AKRON, OHIO — A recent price increase for North American PET resin is featured in this week's Material Insights video.
Prices for PET have inched up 2 cents per pound since Dec. 1. Feedstock tightness was behind the increase, and regional PET makers now are seeking a 4-cent increase for February. Prices for the material had increased 10 percent during 2012.
Full-year 2012 resin sales data from Washington-based American Chemistry Council also is featured in this week's video. Sales of PVC made in the U.S. and Canada grew almost 6 percent during the year, with HDPE sales up more than 2 percent. But regional sales of PP and LDPE were close to flat and sales of LLDPE fell almost 2 percent and sales of PS slid more than 3 percent.
The video wraps up with news of a pair of resin capacity expansions. Lubrizol Corp. and Sekisui Chemical Co. are combining forces to build a new chlorinated PVC plant in Thailand. The plant would have annual capacity of almost 70 million pounds and would open by the end of 2014. In Alabama, Huntsman Corp. will go through with plans to increase epoxy resin capacity at its plant there in spite of announced changes that will eliminate several jobs.
