AKRON, OHIO — Another North American price hike for polypropylene resin is featured in this week's Material Insights video.
Prices jumped an average of 6 cents per pound in February after climbing 15 cents in January. The increase was tied into tight supplies of propylene monomer feedstock, sources said. In spite of the recent increases, buyers are expecting prices to drop in March.
Recent changes at materials firm Techmer PM also are featured in this week's video. Techmer recently bought out its partner in the Techmer Lehvoss Compounds joint venture. The firm also named Ryan Howley as its new president and opened a machine shop at a plant at its headquarters location in Clinton, Tenn.
The video wraps up with news that materials maker Ascend Performance Materials plans to build a $1.2 billion propylene plant in Alvin, Texas. Houston-based Ascend declined to release many details of the project, but market sources said that level of investment could build a plant with between 800 million and 1 billion pounds of capacity — more than Ascend needs to make nylon 6/6 resin and related products.
