From paints to plastics, a shortage of chemicals is igniting prices | Local company
Billy Wommack, director of hardware purchasing at WS Jenks & Sons, poses outside the hardware store Friday, September 24, 2021, in northeast Washington. Shortages of chemicals and the near doubling of oil prices over the past year have resulted in higher prices for many products. WS Jenks & Son hardware store receives only 20 to 30% of the paint it needs to meet customer demand without a residue; normally, the fill rate is generally 90%. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Billy Wommack, left, purchasing manager at WS Jenks & Sons, left, worked with client Tim Wood last month to choose a paint color for the exterior of his home in Washington, DC Paint stores have suffered shortages, especially when contractors have large orders.
Billy Wommack, purchasing manager at WS Jenks & Sons, hauls a gallon of paint into a shaker at the hardware store’s paint department mixing station on Friday, September 24, 2021, in northeast Washington. Shortages of chemicals and the near doubling of oil prices over the past year have resulted in higher prices for many products. WS Jenks & Son hardware store receives only 20 to 30% of the paint it needs to meet customer demand without a residue; normally, the fill rate is generally 90%. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Billy Wommack, purchasing manager at WS Jenks & Sons, opens a gallon of paint at the hardware store’s paint department mixing station on Friday, September 24, 2021, in northeast Washington. Shortages of chemicals and the near doubling of oil prices over the past year have resulted in higher prices for many products. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Billy Wommack, purchasing manager at WS Jenks & Sons, hauls a gallon of paint to a dye dispenser at the hardware store’s paint department mixing station on Friday, September 24, 2021, in northeast Washington. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta)
In an economy shattered by the coronavirus, shortages and price spikes have affected everything from wood to computer chips. Even the toilet paper did not escape.
Today, they are cutting one of the humblest but most vital links in the global manufacturing supply chain: plastic granules that go into a vast universe of products ranging from grain bags to medical devices, from automobile interiors to bicycle helmets.
Like other manufacturers, petrochemical companies have been rocked by the pandemic and the way consumers and businesses have responded to it. Yet petrochemicals, which are made from petroleum, have also encountered their own problems, one after another: an abnormal winter freeze in Texas. Love at first sight in Louisiana. Hurricanes along the Gulf Coast.
All of them conspired to disrupt production and raise prices.
“There is nothing wrong,” said Jeremy Pafford, senior editor for the Americas at Independent Commodity Intelligence Services (CIHI), which analyzes the energy and chemicals markets. “It’s kinda crazy-a-mole – something’s wrong, it fixes itself, then something else happens. And it’s been like that since the start of the pandemic.”
The price of polyvinyl chloride or PVC, used for pipes, medical devices, credit cards, vinyl records and more, has climbed 70%. The price of epoxy resins, used for coatings, adhesives and paints, has climbed 170%. Ethylene – arguably the world’s most important chemical, used in everything from food packaging to antifreeze to polyester – has jumped 43%, according to figures from CIHI.
