603793 The invention provides a forming and wrapping unit (2) for forming material into a continuous bar (20) and wrapping said material the unit comprising: a forming chamber (6) for forming material into a continuous bar； sheet wrapping means (4) for wrapping said continuous bar； and control means operating on said sheet wrapping means, wherein said sheet wrapping means and said control means are adapted to be operable independently of a rate of feeding bulk material into the forming chamber. The invention also relates to a method for forming and wrapping material into a continuous bar, comprising feeding said material to a wrapping position while forming said material； wrapping sheet around said material such that said sheet at least partly overlaps a previously wrapped round of sheet； and transferring the wrapped material from said wrapping position to a storage ready position. The step of feeding the material to a wrapping position and said step of wrapping sheet around the material are separately operable. The method and the apparatus of the invention are versatile and cost-efficient, allowing optimal forming and wrapping of different materials for a variety of purposes.
