The Urethane Blog
Everchem Updates
VOLUME XXI
September 14, 2023
Everchem’s exclusive Closers Only Club is reserved for only the highest caliber brass-baller salesmen in the chemical industry. Watch the hype video and be introduced to the top of the league: — read more
August 31, 2021
Surfers, Swimmers, Boaters Run Into Summer-Disrupting Fiberglass Shortage
By Brett Haensel August 30, 2021, 11:25 AM EDT
- Shortage of fiberglass affects outdoor recreation industry
- Producers, consumers face longer wait times, steeper prices
Swimming-pool construction has slowed to a crawl. Surfboard manufacturers are disappointing customers who dream of hanging 10. Waiting lists for new boats stretch on for months. There’s a common culprit: fiberglass.
The glittery, lightweight material goes into so many common outdoor products that it’s hard to imagine summertime without it. The supply-chain snarls show how broader forces in international trade, supply and demand have rippled through industries in the past year, leading to higher prices and slowing commerce.
Fiberglass is made by extruding glass into strands measured in microns that are then combined and woven in various ways. Some pool manufacturers use fiberglass exclusively. Most surfboards include a foam core wrapped in fiberglass and resin, and the hulls of most modern boats also are built with those composite materials. It’s used in car parts and recreational vehicles, among other things.
But manufacturing has been hobbled by a shortage of fiberglass cloth and liquid vinyl ester resin, which have gotten scarce and expensive. Some retailers are turning away paying customers, many of whom turned to outdoor recreation to cope with the pandemic.
“It’s very, very painful to have to tell people that they can’t run their businesses because you can’t give them raw materials, nor can you refer them to anybody else that can,” said Kent Wooldridge, president of the United Marine Manufacturers Association, a group that assists independent boat and pool builders. If anyone has raw materials, he said, “they charge outlandish amounts.”
With so many industries hungry for composites, suppliers have been overwhelmed. New tariffs and damage to resin-producing chemical plants caused by winter storms in Texas were “catastrophes,” said Duke Aipa, president of board manufacturer Aipa Surf Co.
Trade Tit-For-Tat
The U.S. produces just a fraction of the world’s fiberglass cloth and has grown reliant on cheap supplies from China. But the trade was snagged by the Trump administration’s hard line trade policy. In 2018, the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on imported fiberglass cloth and resin.
In response, Chinese manufacturers diverted supply to their domestic market and increased export prices. The nation already had begun to prioritize materials for strategic use such as electricity-generating windmills — which require fiberglass for turbine blades.
The pandemic last year further exacerbated supply-chain challenges when Chinese fiberglass plants were shut down and global demand took off for recreational products.
“We have this domino effect of a trade situation, a pandemic, high demand in the U.S., high demand in China and the Chinese redirecting glass fiber supply into China and increasing the cost of glass fiber in the U.S.,” said Jeff Sloan, editor of CompositesWorld, which covers the industry. “It’s probably going to be the fall or even into early winter before some of this starts to iron out.”
The already difficult situation was worsened by severe weather that struck at the heart of US. petrochemical production.
Force of Nature
A winter storm this year brought subfreezing temperatures to Texas, overwhelming much of its electricity infrastructure and shutting down key chemical manufacturing plants in the Houston area. The storm forced two of the country’s largest epoxy producers — Olin Corp. and Hexion Inc. — to turn off the lights at their Gulf Coast facilities.
That made resin nearly nonexistent. Even now, about six months removed from the freeze, businesses are having difficulty finding the stuff.
“We get in a truckload of resin and it’s all sold out immediately. It’s all pre-sold before we even receive it,” said Wooldridge, the association leader. “Then, we’re completely out until we get the next container. It’s been that way for months.”
Consider the cost of other raw materials, labor, and shipping containers — the price of which has risen to upward of $20,000 from about $2,000 — and it’s clear why many recreational-product distributors and retailers can’t restock inventory.
Florida pool builder Kirk Sullivan has had to deliver a difficult message to customers looking for a summer splash. The owner of San Juan Pools recently refunded the deposits of some 250 orders and had to tell other prospective buyers his company is backlogged through next year.
“I’m at the feeding trough of a lot of other industries” that also use resin, said Sullivan, who estimates he’s lost $22 million in business from short supplies.
Holding Pattern
Sullivan said this summer suppliers allotted him only 70% of the volume he received during the winter off-season. With resin availability also limited, his business hasn’t been able to take new orders. But he’s kept all his employees on the payroll to be ready for whenever materials start appearing again at normal prices and volumes.
Whereas once it took as little as six weeks to receive a Surf Hardware International board, now it can take six months, according to regional manager Todd Prestage.
Manufacturers have tried to get creative by, for example, importing more materials from Southeast Asian countries not affected by higher tariffs. But there are few quick workarounds, so consumers are paying more.
Aipa said surfboards that used to cost $750 are now going for around $1,000 — a price supported by loyalty to a brand that dates to 1970. Companies with shorter track records and lesser known brands might not be able to command those premiums.
“I feel bad for those who don’t have bigger brand names, because these price increases are really going to affect their livelihoods,” Aipa said. “We’re just fortunate to be in the position we’re in right now.”
August 31, 2021
Surfers, Swimmers, Boaters Run Into Summer-Disrupting Fiberglass Shortage
By Brett Haensel August 30, 2021, 11:25 AM EDT
- Shortage of fiberglass affects outdoor recreation industry
- Producers, consumers face longer wait times, steeper prices
Swimming-pool construction has slowed to a crawl. Surfboard manufacturers are disappointing customers who dream of hanging 10. Waiting lists for new boats stretch on for months. There’s a common culprit: fiberglass.
The glittery, lightweight material goes into so many common outdoor products that it’s hard to imagine summertime without it. The supply-chain snarls show how broader forces in international trade, supply and demand have rippled through industries in the past year, leading to higher prices and slowing commerce.
Fiberglass is made by extruding glass into strands measured in microns that are then combined and woven in various ways. Some pool manufacturers use fiberglass exclusively. Most surfboards include a foam core wrapped in fiberglass and resin, and the hulls of most modern boats also are built with those composite materials. It’s used in car parts and recreational vehicles, among other things.
But manufacturing has been hobbled by a shortage of fiberglass cloth and liquid vinyl ester resin, which have gotten scarce and expensive. Some retailers are turning away paying customers, many of whom turned to outdoor recreation to cope with the pandemic.
“It’s very, very painful to have to tell people that they can’t run their businesses because you can’t give them raw materials, nor can you refer them to anybody else that can,” said Kent Wooldridge, president of the United Marine Manufacturers Association, a group that assists independent boat and pool builders. If anyone has raw materials, he said, “they charge outlandish amounts.”
With so many industries hungry for composites, suppliers have been overwhelmed. New tariffs and damage to resin-producing chemical plants caused by winter storms in Texas were “catastrophes,” said Duke Aipa, president of board manufacturer Aipa Surf Co.
Trade Tit-For-Tat
The U.S. produces just a fraction of the world’s fiberglass cloth and has grown reliant on cheap supplies from China. But the trade was snagged by the Trump administration’s hard line trade policy. In 2018, the U.S. imposed a 25% tariff on imported fiberglass cloth and resin.
In response, Chinese manufacturers diverted supply to their domestic market and increased export prices. The nation already had begun to prioritize materials for strategic use such as electricity-generating windmills — which require fiberglass for turbine blades.
The pandemic last year further exacerbated supply-chain challenges when Chinese fiberglass plants were shut down and global demand took off for recreational products.
“We have this domino effect of a trade situation, a pandemic, high demand in the U.S., high demand in China and the Chinese redirecting glass fiber supply into China and increasing the cost of glass fiber in the U.S.,” said Jeff Sloan, editor of CompositesWorld, which covers the industry. “It’s probably going to be the fall or even into early winter before some of this starts to iron out.”
The already difficult situation was worsened by severe weather that struck at the heart of US. petrochemical production.
Force of Nature
A winter storm this year brought subfreezing temperatures to Texas, overwhelming much of its electricity infrastructure and shutting down key chemical manufacturing plants in the Houston area. The storm forced two of the country’s largest epoxy producers — Olin Corp. and Hexion Inc. — to turn off the lights at their Gulf Coast facilities.
That made resin nearly nonexistent. Even now, about six months removed from the freeze, businesses are having difficulty finding the stuff.
“We get in a truckload of resin and it’s all sold out immediately. It’s all pre-sold before we even receive it,” said Wooldridge, the association leader. “Then, we’re completely out until we get the next container. It’s been that way for months.”
Consider the cost of other raw materials, labor, and shipping containers — the price of which has risen to upward of $20,000 from about $2,000 — and it’s clear why many recreational-product distributors and retailers can’t restock inventory.
Florida pool builder Kirk Sullivan has had to deliver a difficult message to customers looking for a summer splash. The owner of San Juan Pools recently refunded the deposits of some 250 orders and had to tell other prospective buyers his company is backlogged through next year.
“I’m at the feeding trough of a lot of other industries” that also use resin, said Sullivan, who estimates he’s lost $22 million in business from short supplies.
Holding Pattern
Sullivan said this summer suppliers allotted him only 70% of the volume he received during the winter off-season. With resin availability also limited, his business hasn’t been able to take new orders. But he’s kept all his employees on the payroll to be ready for whenever materials start appearing again at normal prices and volumes.
Whereas once it took as little as six weeks to receive a Surf Hardware International board, now it can take six months, according to regional manager Todd Prestage.
Manufacturers have tried to get creative by, for example, importing more materials from Southeast Asian countries not affected by higher tariffs. But there are few quick workarounds, so consumers are paying more.
Aipa said surfboards that used to cost $750 are now going for around $1,000 — a price supported by loyalty to a brand that dates to 1970. Companies with shorter track records and lesser known brands might not be able to command those premiums.
“I feel bad for those who don’t have bigger brand names, because these price increases are really going to affect their livelihoods,” Aipa said. “We’re just fortunate to be in the position we’re in right now.”
August 30, 2021
A rough start to the week!
Dow shuts Midland operations after flood waters sweep in
by Alex LoweAugust 30, 2021 in US Stocks 0
Home » Dow shuts Midland operations after flood waters sweep in FILE PHOTO: The Dow logo is seen at the entrance to Dow Chemical headquarters in Midland, Michigan May 14, 2015. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
(Reuters) – Dow Inc said on Wednesday it has shut down all operating units at its headquarters in Midland, Michigan, after flood waters breached its sites following the collapse of two dams.
“At approximately 10:00 a.m. Eastern it was confirmed there were flood waters commingling with on-site containment ponds,” the chemical maker said in a Facebook post bit.ly/3e1d1nm.
The company said it was deploying its flood preparedness plan and no employees had been injured so far.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday declared an emergency for Midland county after the Edenville and Sanford dams collapsed due to heavy rain in the past few days and said residents nearby had been told to evacuate immediately.
DuPont and Corteva, spun off from DowDuPont, also have manufacturing facilities in Dow’s industrial complex in Midland.
Reporting by Shanti S Nair and Taru Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni
August 30, 2021
A rough start to the week!
Dow shuts Midland operations after flood waters sweep in
by Alex LoweAugust 30, 2021 in US Stocks 0
Home » Dow shuts Midland operations after flood waters sweep in FILE PHOTO: The Dow logo is seen at the entrance to Dow Chemical headquarters in Midland, Michigan May 14, 2015. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo
(Reuters) – Dow Inc said on Wednesday it has shut down all operating units at its headquarters in Midland, Michigan, after flood waters breached its sites following the collapse of two dams.
“At approximately 10:00 a.m. Eastern it was confirmed there were flood waters commingling with on-site containment ponds,” the chemical maker said in a Facebook post bit.ly/3e1d1nm.
The company said it was deploying its flood preparedness plan and no employees had been injured so far.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday declared an emergency for Midland county after the Edenville and Sanford dams collapsed due to heavy rain in the past few days and said residents nearby had been told to evacuate immediately.
DuPont and Corteva, spun off from DowDuPont, also have manufacturing facilities in Dow’s industrial complex in Midland.
Reporting by Shanti S Nair and Taru Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni
August 30, 2021
Asia petrochemicals brace for impact as Hurricane Ida forces US outages
Author: Nurluqman Suratman
2021/08/30
SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Selected petrochemical markets in Asia are bracing for tighter supply due to plant outages in the US Gulf Coast triggered by Hurricane Ida.
Any immediate impact on chemical trades between the US and Asia, however, may be limited given high freight costs amid prevailing shortage of vessels.
Ida made landfall near Port Fourchon in Louisiana as a powerful Category 4 hurricane, with winds of 155 miles per hour and is continuing northward as a Category 2 storm, according to the latest advisory by the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) at 22:00 central time (03:00 GMT).
The arrival of Ida forced the closure of several major chemical plants in Louisiana, while ports threatened by the storm have either shut or restricted operations.
In Asia’s orthoxylene (OX) market, US demand is projected to increase going forward as supply is expected to tighten after Ida’s arrival.
In the benzene market, activity was more brisk early on Monday as some traders re-positioned themselves against potential impact of the hurricane on US chemical output.
“The market is firmer as players await more news on the impact of Ida on US production,” said a broker in South Korea.
For monoethylene glycol (MEG), spot discussions in Asia were higher with China’s futures market surging by more than 2% in early trade amid concerns of tighter supply in the wake of hurricane-related outages in the US.
For the polymeric and monomeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI, MDI) markets, any impact on Asian trade remains to be seen.
Cargo availability in the US is set to come under further pressure after BASF shut down units in Geismar, Louisiana.
In the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) market, the US shutdowns will further tighten global supply, with Asian cargoes likely to continue flowing into the Middle East.
US PVC exports to the Middle East and Asia have been constrained for much of 2021, as major US producers have been affected by weather-related issues since early in the year.
For acrylonitrile (ACN), the arbitrage window from the US had been closed even before Hurricane Ida. Major US producer Cornerstone has shut its plant in Louisiana ahead of the hurricane’s arrival.
Spot ACN prices in the US have risen recently due to cost pressure amid spikes in values of feedstock propylene. Current export prices were deemed unworkable for the Asian market.
Regional market players have been expecting fewer spot ACN cargoes in the near term.
Contract volumes to Asia are largely from INEOS Nitriles, whose production so far has not yet been affected.
Asian ACN prices have been stable to firmer supported by tight spot supply, plant issues and upcoming turnarounds.
IDA WEAKENING BUT THREATS REMAIN
The US’ NHC warned that “catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding” are set to continue in portions of southeastern Louisiana.
“The centre of Ida will move farther inland over southeastern Louisiana
tonight,” NHC said.
“Ida is then forecast to move well inland over portions of western Mississippi Monday and Monday night, and move across the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday,” it said.
Some 996,495 power outages were reported across Louisiana as of 03:45 GMT on Monday while in neighbouring Mississippi, 45,497power outages were reported, according to PowerOutage.US.
Around 96% of oil production and 94% of gas production in the Gulf of Mexico has been shut in due to the arrival of Ida as of 29 August, according to the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
Oil and gas operators have evacuated 288 platforms, some 51.43% of the 560 manned platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
As of 04:45 GMT, oil prices were trading mixed with Brent crude 12 cents higher at $72.82/bbl and US WTI crude down 2 cents at $68.54/bbl.
LOUISIANA PLANT SHUTDOWNS (AS OF 01:30 GMT)
Company | Site | Products | Status | Date |
Formosa Plastics | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | PVC, VCM | Shut down | 29-Aug |
ExxonMobil adjusts US Baton Rouge ops, shut some units on Ida | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Olefins, aromatics, IPA, polyolefins, base oils | Shut down | 29-Aug |
ExxonMobil adjusts US Baton Rouge ops, shut some units on Ida | Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Olefins, aromatics, IPA, polyolefins, base oils | Curtailment | 29-Aug |
Westlake | Geismar, Louisiana | Caustic Soda, EDC, PVC, VCM | Shut down | 29-Aug |
Westlake | Plaquemine, Louisiana | Caustic Soda, EDC, PVC, VCM | Shut down | 29-Aug |
Dow | Taft, Louisiana | Olefins, acetic acid, acrylic acid, acrylic acid esters, ethanolamines, EO, glycol ethers, LLDPE | Shutdown | 29-Aug |
Dow | Plaquemine, Louisiana | Olefins, aromatics, EO, glycol ethers, LDPE, LLDPE, PG, PO | Shut down | 29-Aug |
BASF | Geismar, Louisiana | BDO, EO, MDI, TDI, polyols | Shut down | 28-Aug |
Phillips 66 | Belle Chasse, Louisiana | Refined products, aromatics, propylene | Shut down | 27-Aug |
Shell | Norco, Louisiana | Olefins | Shut down | 27-Aug |
Shell | Geismar, Louisiana | LAO, EG, EO, linear alcohols, glycol ethers | Shut down | 27-Aug |
Cornerstone | Waggaman, Louisiana | ACN, melamine | Shut down | 27-Aug |
With additional reporting by Li Li Chng, Jasmine Khoo, Jonathan Chou, Samuel Wong, Judith Wang and Clive Ong
Focus article by Nurluqman Suratman