Prices for polypropylene, polystyrene and PVC resins all have increased since Aug. 1 as the result of solid demand and some supply restrictions.
Plastics News also is showing price hikes for recycled resins, showing increases that took place in the first half of the year.
In August, North American prices for PP jumped 11 cents per pound, matching an increase seen in prices for polymer-grade propylene monomer. Regional PP makers had attempted to add 5 cents in margin improvement onto August prices, but were unable to, market sources said.
PP makers had tried to do the same thing in July, but prices only matched the 2-cent increase seen for PGP. Prices had jumped a total of 25 cents in May and June. Factoring in previous increases and decreases, PP prices are up a net of 79.5 cents since December.
North American PP demand remains strong from many end markets, and supply has improved somewhat, but pockets of tightness remain. Suppliers are continuing to recover from the ice storm that hit Texas in February and knocked out almost 90 percent of North American PP production for several days.
North American resin distributors recently told Plastics News that tight resin supplies have been combined with ongoing challenges in logistics, labor, packaging, shipping, rail and trucking. The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic were followed by hurricanes in the second half of 2020 and the Texas ice storm.
U.S. PP operating rates in June were estimated at around 96 percent, the highest for the industry in 14 years.