Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
      • 2022 class
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
May 07, 2012 02:00 AM

PVC prices continue to climb

Frank Esposito
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    The North American PVC market is off to a robust start in 2012, with strong demand and higher feedstock costs pushing resin prices up a total of 4 cents per pound since Feb. 1.

    The regional market saw a 2-cent hike in February and another 2-cent hike in March, according to buyers contacted by Plastics News. Those increases came after a successful 3-cent hike in January.

    The combined 7-cent move in the first three months of the year works out to a price increase of about 8 percent on suspension-grade PVC used in pipe applications, according to the Plastics News resin pricing chart.

    Higher feedstock costs have played a role in the increases, with ethylene feedstock tracking expensive crude oil instead of lower-priced natural gas. This split has occurred even as natural gas is increasingly used as a feedstock in the region.

    A big increase in U.S./Canadian PVC sales in the first two months of the year may be even more surprising. Regional PVC sales jumped almost 13 percent in that period, according to the American Chemistry Council in Washington, with domestic sales up almost 23 percent, even as export sales declined 3 percent.

    That division also runs counter to what the North American PVC field has seen in recent years, when a strong export market kept PVC's head above water as the domestic market struggled with a steep drop-off in construction work. Included in the recent domestic sales increase is an eye-opening 48 percent jump in PVC sales into rigid pipe and tubing.

    U.S. housing starts rose almost 4 percent to 609,000 in 2011, according to the National Association of Homebuilders in Washington — marking the second straight annual increase, after the market bottomed out in 2009 at 554,000. National housing starts were at almost 1.4 million as recently as 2007, before the recession hit.

    Housing starts for March came in at an annual pace of 654,000 — which would be an increase of more than 7 percent vs. 2011. That's a big deal for PVC, since construction-related uses accounted for about 60 percent of domestic sales in the first two months of the year.

    A Texas-based PVC buyer said the material's fast start in 2012 might be tied to warmer-than-usual temperatures in some parts of the country, which allowed contractors to begin building projects sooner than they would have otherwise.

    “The weather might have pushed the normal spring [resin] buy up into January and February,” he said.

    Regional PVC makers saw April prices come in flat and now are working on a 2-cent increase attempt for May. “I think now [PVC makers] are looking at margin building,” the Texas buyer said.

    PVC's early-year increases in the region come after prices rose a net of 8 percent in 2011. But that total included a 4 percent price drop in the second half of last year.

    Price increases for copolymer acetal and polybutylene terephthalate resins also are being reported on this week's Plastics News resin pricing chart. The increases incorporate price changes that hit those materials during 2011. Prices for homopolymer acetal also are being corrected to reflect price changes in both 2010 and 2011.

    A 5 percent hike in prices for copolymer acetal equates to a price increase of 6 cents per pound on the PN chart. Acetal demand overall has rebounded as the regional auto sector has improved, since automotive uses account for about 40 percent of North American acetal demand. The correction in prices for homopolymer acetal is 30 cents per pound.

    The North American acetal market remains balanced, with demand from the auto, industrial and consumer segments improving in early 2012, according to a recent report from IHS Chemical in Houston.

    In PBT, a 12 percent increase has added 15 cents to pricing levels on the PN chart.

    Increasing demand from the auto sector also has been driving PBT growth. PBT maker Sabic Innovative Plastics is working to implement a 9-cent price increase that first hit the market in February.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Unsupervised worker blamed for overriding alarms in Michigan chemical spill
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    ‘Crazy' offers prompt sale of medical supplier Molded Devices
    2
    Compounder Aurora Plastics breaks ground on Ohio expansion
    3
    Material Insights: July resin price drop could be start of trend
    4
    Auto supplier Gissing enters Chapter 11, owes Tesla $13.3M
    5
    Stratasys buying Covestro additive manufacturing business
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
          • 2022 class
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified