Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. has placed force majeure supply limits on high density polyethylene resin made at one of the firm's plants in Orange, Texas.
The declaration was the result of an equipment failure, according to a customer letter cited in media reports. CP Chem — based in The Woodlands, Texas — operates two HDPE plants in Orange.
The outage comes at a time when North American demand for HDPE and other commodity plastics hasn't been very strong. Reduced HDPE production in the region could serve to solidify pricing for the material, even as buyers in the region are looking for lower prices.
North American PE prices are up a net of 3 cents per pound so far in 2023, although some buyers are flat for the year because of non-market adjustments. The Plastics News resin pricing chart is showing the net 3 increase through August.