Reichhold to increase resin prices again
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C – Marine resins manufacturer Reichhold will increase prices $ 0.05 per pound on all unsaturated polyester resins sold in the United States and Canada effective for orders shipped on or after Nov. 15, the company said in a press release Friday.
This latest increase is in addition to the one that took effect Oct. 15.
“The seemingly non-stop escalation of crude oil prices continues to drive up raw material costs for unsaturated polyester resins,” said Bill Schramm, Reichhold’s North American director of Composites Product Management. “After crude oil broke the $ 40 dollar-per-barrel mark, some analysts thought we might see a market correction, but that has not been the case. By the third week of October, we saw crude oil prices race past $ 55 dollars per barrel.
Schramm said the supply of crude oil for petroleum-based products such as styrene and glycols is one of the factors contributing to the increase, but that a lack of refining capacity in the U.S. has had a major impact as well.
“Many of our raw materials are also on allocation, further exacerbating the problem. At this point, we don’t see any relief through the end of 2004,” Schramm said. “However, it is not only the price of oil that is driving these increases in our raw materials costs. “A continued strong demand for glycols and maleic anhydride are major factors as well. Availability of all unsaturated polyester resin raw materials is being limited by strong demand in North America locally, and especially China, on a global scale.”
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