There are many occupational hazards to compiling a resin pricing index.
In my case, doing that work for Plastics News for 20-plus years has led to hair loss, diminished eyesight and increased sarcasm. Others in the field might experience different symptoms.
Another occupational hazard of index work is the need to occasionally post nonmarket price corrections on some commodity resins. These are hard to explain, but they're essentially year-end rebates. That might not be a 100 percent accurate definition, but that's how they appear to many resin buyers.
We recently showed one such move on all grades of polyethylene resin. We included an explanation, but it was part of a broader pricing story. Based on the amount of phone calls and emails I've received, not everyone saw it, so here it is again.
PN showed a 22-cent downward nonmarket correction for all grades of polyethylene on Feb. 13. That correction reflects price rebates or discounts seen in year-end negotiations between buyers and sellers in 2021 and 2022. The correction does not reflect month-to-month price changes caused by supply, demand or feedstock prices in the current PE market.
Hopefully, this clarifies the issue. Doing a resin pricing index isn't for the faint of heart.
But on the plus side, a bottle of shampoo now lasts me a whole year.
