Reichhold price increases continue
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Marine resins supplier and manufacturer Reichhold will increase its prices $ .10 per pound on all unsaturated polyester resins sold in the U.S. and Canada for orders shipped on or after Sept. 6, the company said in a release Friday afternoon.
This latest increase will be in addition to the price increase which took effect Aug. 5, the company said.
“The entire unsaturated polyester industry is experiencing unprecedented raw materials escalation in both quantity and frequency,” said Bruce Fawcett, Reichhold senior vice president, commercial. “There is high demand in the marketplace right now. While we certainly welcome this increased volume, our profitability has been severely eroded due to the cost pressures associated with raw materials.”
Benzene, a key component of styrene, continues on a record-setting pace, reaching all-time high pricing for the third month in a row in August. Another key polyester resin raw material, maleic anhydride, is on sales control, making supplies both limited and costly. Among other ingredients on the rise, diethylene glycol prices have increased over 100 percent in 2004, Reichhold reported.
“To ensure we are able to keep pace with the industry demands, significant capital investments will be required,” Fawcett said. “However, without an improved outlook on profit, justification of further large capital investments will be difficult to justify.
“As always, we thank our customers for their patience in this year which is bringing high demand for composites products, but also significantly higher raw material costs.”
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