Unplanned disruptions in polymer feedstock production in December, to be followed by a number of planned cracker outages slated for the first four months of this year, helped drive up monomer and resin prices, especially of PP, but also including PE, PS, and PVC.
Three forward-thinking custom molders have taken steps to streamline their manufacturing, expand new product development, and add to their customer base—and all in a more cost-effective manner than ever before.
Softer prices can be expected for all four commodity thermoplastics as the year ends, a trend that may continue in the first quarter of 2013, for some resins, at least.
A thermoplastic composite technology that emerged just a couple of years ago promises to make dramatic strides within the next two years in automotive mass production of structural components.
A sharp decline in U.S. energy prices and tabs for all key feedstocks, along with dismal-to-lackluster domestic and global demand, have brought significantly more attractive pricing for the four commodity thermoplastics and downward movement for four high-volume engineering resins.
High-surface-area, sub-micron-size additives have been making significant commercial strides in thermoplastic applications, albeit generally later than had been expected just a decade ago.