Cling Film in Spanish, Chinese & 12 Markets: Buyer Glossary

Quick answer: Clingfilm in Spanish is film transparente or film alimentario in Spain (colloquially papel film). In Mexico it is plástico adherente or película adherente, in Colombia vinipel, and in Chile alusa. In Chinese, cling wrap is 保鲜膜 (bǎoxiānmó). For buyers, the dictionary answer is only the start. The same product has a different name in every market, and several of those names collide with stretch film, which is a completely different product. Chinese factories also quote thickness in 丝 (1 丝 = 0.01 mm = 10 µm). Get the words wrong on a purchase order, a box or a customs invoice and you can receive the wrong film, have a label rejected, or clear customs under the wrong code.

We manufacture PVC and PE food film at Ningbo Sanrong New Materials in the Ningbo Qianwan New Area and export to more than 50 countries. That means printing boxes in many languages and reading purchase orders written in many more. This glossary goes past a translation list: for each market it gives the local shelf name, the words to put on the label, the Chinese factory term for your PO, and the translations that cause real problems.

What Is Cling Film Called in Spanish? It Depends on the Country

Spanish dictionaries give one or two translations. Spanish-speaking shoppers use at least six, and several are brand names that became generic words. That matters for two reasons. It tells you what your customers will type into a search box, and it tells you what not to print as the legal product name (a genericised brand on your box can invite a trademark complaint).

Country	What shoppers say	Safer wording for the label	Watch out for
Spain	film transparente, film alimentario, papel film	Film transparente para alimentos	”Film estirable” can mean pallet wrap in B2B catalogues
Mexico	plástico adherente, película adherente, “Kleen Pack” (brand)	Película adherente para alimentos	Película estirable usually returns pallet stretch film
Colombia	vinipel	Película plástica adherente para alimentos	Vinipel started as a brand name; don’t print it as the product name
Chile	alusa, alusa film	Film plástico adherente para alimentos	Alusa is also a brand name
Argentina	papel film	Film adherente para alimentos	”Papel” misleads if the label is translated back to English
Generic Latin America	envoltura plástica, film adherente	Película adherente de PVC / de PE	Always add the material: PVC or PE

Two practical notes from the factory side. First, Spanish-speaking catering buyers often skip the word entirely and order by size: “rollo de 30 cm × 300 m”. Put the width and length in large type on the front panel. Second, “papel” (paper) is a common colloquial prefix in Spain and Argentina. Keep it off technical documents, because a back-translation reading “paper film” confuses both customs officers and quality inspectors.

If you import into Latin America, our Spanish product page for papel film de cocina shows the formats we ship, and our market pages for Colombia, Argentina and Peru cover ports, transit times and typical roll sizes. For the English-language naming differences (Saran wrap, plastic wrap, Glad Wrap), see our Saran wrap vs cling wrap vs plastic wrap guide.

Cling Film in 12 Languages: The Export Market Map

This table covers the markets where we most often see artwork requests. The “stretch-film trap” column flags languages where the everyday word for cling film overlaps with the word for pallet wrap. Those are the markets where a spec sheet has to be most explicit.

Language / market	Everyday term	Formal / B2B term	Stretch-film trap?
Chinese (Mainland)	保鲜膜 bǎoxiānmó	PVC保鲜膜 / PE保鲜膜	No, but 缠绕膜 = pallet film
Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong)	保鮮膜	食品用保鮮膜	No
Portuguese (Brazil)	papel filme	filme PVC para alimentos	Low
Portuguese (Portugal)	película aderente	película aderente para alimentos	Low
French (France)	film alimentaire, film étirable	film alimentaire étirable	Yes: film étirable is also pallet wrap
French (Québec)	pellicule plastique, pellicule de plastique	pellicule plastique alimentaire	Low
Arabic (Gulf, Levant, Iraq)	نايلون تغليف (naylon taghlif)	نايلون تغليف الطعام	Medium; “nylon” here means any plastic
Russian	пищевая плёнка	пищевая плёнка ПВХ / ПЭ	Yes: стретч-плёнка is used for both
Turkish	streç film	gıda streç filmi	Yes: same word as pallet wrap
Vietnamese	màng bọc thực phẩm	màng bọc thực phẩm PVC / PE	Low
Indonesian	plastik wrap	plastik pembungkus makanan	Yes: “stretch film” used for both
German	Frischhaltefolie	Frischhaltefolie für Lebensmittel	No
Japanese	ラップ (rappu)	食品用ラップフィルム	No
Korean	랩 (laep), 위생랩	식품용 랩	No

The Arabic row deserves a warning. Retail listings in the UAE, Jordan and Iraq routinely call cling film نايلون (“nylon”), but the film is PVC or PE, not polyamide. It is easy for that word to slip into an English-language spec sheet as “nylon cling film”. Nylon (PA) is a different polymer with a different HS code and different food-contact rules. On any technical or customs document, state the real material. Our Saudi Arabia and UAE market pages list the formats that sell in Gulf supermarkets and catering.

Cling Wrap in Chinese: The Factory Vocabulary Your PO Needs

If you buy direct from China, the word 保鲜膜 alone will get you a quotation. It won’t get you the right quotation. These are the terms that appear on Chinese quotations, production orders and packing lists, with the translation errors we see most often:

Chinese term	Pinyin	Correct English	Common mistranslation
保鲜膜	bǎoxiānmó	Food cling film	”Fresh-keeping film” (reads as Chinglish on a box)
缠绕膜 / 拉伸膜	chánràomó / lāshēnmó	Pallet stretch film	”Cling film” (wrong product)
收缩膜	shōusuōmó	Heat-shrink film	”Stretch film”
丝	sī	0.01 mm = 10 µm	”Silk”, or confused with microns
大卷 / 母卷	dàjuǎn / mǔjuǎn	Jumbo roll / master roll	”Big roll” without dimensions
分切	fēnqiē	Slitting and rewinding	”Cutting”
纸管 / 管芯内径	zhǐguǎn / guǎnxīn nèijìng	Paper core / core inner diameter	”Paper tube” with no ID stated
滑刀盒	huádāohé	Slider-cutter box	”Sliding knife box”
锯齿刀	jùchǐdāo	Serrated cutter blade	”Saw”
增塑剂	zēngsùjì	Plasticiser	”Softener”
迁移试验	qiānyí shìyàn	Migration test (food contact)	“Transfer test”
净重 / 毛重	jìngzhòng / máozhòng	Net weight / gross weight	Swapped on packing lists
贴牌	tiēpái	Private label / OEM	”Sticker brand”

The 丝 trap in numbers. Household cling film is typically 0.8-1.2 丝, which is 8-12 µm. Catering film runs about 1.0-1.5 丝 (10-15 µm). A classic error is a buyer’s “10 micron” becoming “10丝” in a trader’s message to the factory. That is 100 µm, ten times too thick, and the quotation comes back at roughly ten times the expected price per metre. The reverse error is worse: a quote for “10 thickness” that turns out to be 1.0 丝 when the buyer wanted 15 µm. Our cling film thickness chart converts µm, mil, US gauge and 丝 in one table.

One PO line that leaves no room for translation. Instead of “cling film 30cm”, write this:

PVC food-contact cling film (PVC保鲜膜), 300 mm × 300 m × 10 µm, net film weight 1,125 g ±3% per roll, 76 mm paper core ID, serrated-cutter printed box, 6 rolls per master carton, label language: Spanish.

That line gives the factory the material, dimensions, thickness in µm, a weight check (300 mm × 300 m × 10 µm × 1.25 g/cm³ ≈ 1,125 g), the core, the box and the label language. Nothing is left to translation.

Need a label or PO checked before you send it? Send us your artwork or spec and we will flag any terminology or unit problems within 12 hours.

Label Language Rules by Destination Market

Choosing the right word is half of the job. The other half is putting mandatory information in the language the destination requires. These are the core rules we work to when preparing export artwork. They are a starting checklist, not legal advice. Product-specific rules can sit on top of them, so your importer should sign off the final label.

Market	Core rule	Language requirement	What we add to the artwork
Mexico	NOM-050-SCFI-2004 (commercial information)	Spanish; other languages allowed alongside	Importer name and fiscal address, country of origin, net content
Brazil	Consumer Defence Code, Law 8.078/1990, Art. 31	Portuguese	Composition, quantity, origin, safety warnings
Saudi Arabia	SASO technical regulations	Arabic, or Arabic + English	Arabic product name, origin, use and warning text (RTL layout)
Other GCC states	National rules differ	Usually Arabic + English	Confirmed case by case with the importer
Canada	Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act	English and French for mandatory information	Bilingual product identity and net quantity
Québec (added)	Charter of the French Language, as amended by Bill 96	French, with no other language more prominent	French generic description even inside a trademark (since June 1, 2025)
European Union	Reg. (EC) 1935/2004 Art. 15 + Reg. (EU) 10/2011	Language easily understood by buyers; each Member State may mandate its own	”For food contact” wording or glass-and-fork symbol, EU operator, batch code
Eurasian Economic Union	TR CU 005/2011 (packaging safety)	Russian and/or national language; confirm scope with the importer	EAC mark where conformity assessment applies
Vietnam	Decree 43/2017/ND-CP, amended by Decree 111/2021/ND-CP	Vietnamese mandatory information	Vietnamese supplementary label before domestic sale
United States	19 CFR Part 134 (origin marking)	English	”Made in China” on the unit box, not only the master carton

Three details that save reprints:

1. The EU symbol is an alternative, not a translation shortcut. Article 15 of Regulation 1935/2004 lets you use the glass-and-fork symbol instead of the words “for food contact”. Use instructions and warnings (for example, “do not use in contact with fatty food in the microwave”) still need to be in the buyer’s language. For the compliance documents behind the label, including the EU 10/2011 declaration of compliance, see our food-grade certification guide.
2. Arabic artwork needs more than a translation. Right-to-left text changes the reading order of the whole front panel. Numbers stay left-to-right inside Arabic text, and Arabic script needs a larger point size than Latin text to read at the same size. Set Arabic proofs natively rather than mirroring an English layout.
3. Canada is two layers. Federal law requires bilingual mandatory information everywhere in Canada. Quebec adds its own rules on top, and since June 1, 2025 a generic product description inside a trademark (such as “Cling Wrap”) must also appear in French.

HS Codes and Customs Wording in Spanish and Other Languages

Customs brokers in Latin America work from Spanish tariff text, and a mismatch between the invoice description and the tariff line is a common reason for queries. The six-digit Harmonized System code is the same everywhere. National codes add digits after it.

Film	HS subheading	English tariff text (short)	Spanish tariff text (short)
PE cling film	3920.10	Of polymers of ethylene	De polímeros de etileno
PVC cling film, plasticised	3920.43	Containing by weight not less than 6% of plasticisers	Con un contenido de plastificantes superior o igual al 6 % en peso
PVC film, low plasticiser	3920.49	Other	Las demás

Food-grade PVC cling film gets its cling and stretch from plasticiser. A normal cling formulation is well above the 6% threshold, which is why it falls under 3920.43. Don’t assume every PVC film does, though. A rigid or semi-rigid PVC sheet sold as “film” can land in 3920.49. On a Spanish-language commercial invoice we describe the product as, for example, “Película adherente de PVC plastificado para contacto con alimentos, en rollos de 30 cm × 300 m”. That wording matches both the tariff text and the physical goods. For landed-cost and duty questions, our cling film HS code guide goes deeper. Always confirm the full national code with your broker.

Private Label in Another Language: How We Handle Multilingual Artwork

Private-label boxes often carry a language nobody on the production floor reads, so artwork has to go through a fixed process that doesn’t rely on anyone’s language skills:

1. The buyer supplies or approves the translated text. We never machine-translate legal label text. We send a text-only table (English | target language | field) for sign-off before layout starts.
2. We set the artwork and send a PDF proof with the fonts embedded. For Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese and other scripts with diacritics, we check that no character is dropped or substituted by a fallback font. This is the most common silent error in multilingual printing.
3. Numbers and units are locked. Width, length, thickness in µm and net weight are taken from the production order, not retyped by the designer. That way the box can’t say 30 cm while the roll is 29.
4. A printed sample box is photographed next to a roll from the pilot run, then shipped with samples if the buyer wants to check it physically.

Artwork sign-off typically takes 5-7 days. Printed-box orders usually start around 10,000 boxes per design because of plate and die-cut tooling. Plain boxes with an applied local-language label work for smaller trial orders. Our private label cling film guide covers the whole OEM process, and the custom OEM cling film page lists the box and core options.

Which Film to Specify, Whatever You Call It

The name changes across borders. The decision behind it doesn’t:

• PVC cling film: highest cling and clarity at the lowest cost per metre. The default for supermarket counters, delis and catering in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
• PE cling film: plasticiser-free and preferred for premium retail labels that make “microwave safe” or “PVC-free” claims.
• Jumbo rolls: for converters who slit and rewind (分切) locally and print their own local-language boxes.

If you are unsure whether a local term such as streç film or film étirable on a customer’s order means food film or pallet film, our stretch film vs cling film guide shows how to tell the two apart by thickness, material and cling.

Related Guides

• Saran Wrap vs Cling Wrap vs Plastic Wrap: What’s the Difference?
• Cling Film & Saran Wrap Thickness Chart: Micron, Mil & Gauge
• Private Label Cling Film: OEM & Custom Branding Guide
• Cling Film HS Code 3920: Import Guide
• Sourcing Chinese Cling Film

Request a Quote for Private Label Cling Film in Your Language

Tell us your destination market, roll sizes, material (PVC or PE) and the label language you need. We will reply within 12 hours with an FOB Ningbo quote, the recommended label wording for that market, and an artwork timeline. Send your current box or PO too, and we will check the terminology and units for free before you order.

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