The Urethane Blog

March 4, 2021

Monument Force Majeure and Price Hike Info

February 16, 2021

Dear Valued Customer,

Effective March 1, 2021, Monument Chemical will increase selling prices for the following products.
Dipropylene Glycol – ALL GRADES $.22/lb
Propylene Glycol – ALL GRADES $.20/lb
Poly-Solv PNB $.20/lb
Poly-Solv PNP $.20/lb
Poly-Solv DPNB $.20/lb
Poly-Solv DPNP $.20/lb
Poly-Solv EM $.05/lb
Poly-Solv MPE $.05/lb
Poly-G $.22/lb
Poly-A $.22/lb
Poly-Q $.22/lb
Poly-L $.22/lb
Poly-G HQEE $.05/lb
Our acceptance of any orders submitted prior to the price increase will be subject to sales control that is currently in place.

Please contact your Monument sales representative to answer any questions you might have regarding this increase or sales control.

Thank you for your continued business and working with Monument Chemical.

February 17, 2021

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to the unprecedented weather, energy, and logistical issues that are affecting majority of the United States, we regret to inform you that Monument Chemical must declare force majeure on all products produced at the Brandenburg, KY facility, effective immediately.

We are currently assessing the situation to determine how much impact this will have on our production and logistics. We will continue to keep you informed on any changes that arise.

Please contact your Monument sales representative to answer any questions you may have regarding this force majeure.

As always, we appreciate your patience and working with us through this difficult time.

March 4, 2021

Monument Force Majeure and Price Hike Info

February 16, 2021

Dear Valued Customer,

Effective March 1, 2021, Monument Chemical will increase selling prices for the following products.
Dipropylene Glycol – ALL GRADES $.22/lb
Propylene Glycol – ALL GRADES $.20/lb
Poly-Solv PNB $.20/lb
Poly-Solv PNP $.20/lb
Poly-Solv DPNB $.20/lb
Poly-Solv DPNP $.20/lb
Poly-Solv EM $.05/lb
Poly-Solv MPE $.05/lb
Poly-G $.22/lb
Poly-A $.22/lb
Poly-Q $.22/lb
Poly-L $.22/lb
Poly-G HQEE $.05/lb
Our acceptance of any orders submitted prior to the price increase will be subject to sales control that is currently in place.

Please contact your Monument sales representative to answer any questions you might have regarding this increase or sales control.

Thank you for your continued business and working with Monument Chemical.

February 17, 2021

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to the unprecedented weather, energy, and logistical issues that are affecting majority of the United States, we regret to inform you that Monument Chemical must declare force majeure on all products produced at the Brandenburg, KY facility, effective immediately.

We are currently assessing the situation to determine how much impact this will have on our production and logistics. We will continue to keep you informed on any changes that arise.

Please contact your Monument sales representative to answer any questions you may have regarding this force majeure.

As always, we appreciate your patience and working with us through this difficult time.

March 4, 2021

Time To Get Back To Work

These are the personal thoughts of the blogger and no more . . .

I had the opportunity to have a relatively normal (by car) business trip this week to visit a key supplier. It was a refreshing experience and it is time to encourage everyone to get back to normal, in my opinion.

The travel day was cold but sunny and a four or five hour car trip was involved. However, a stop half way and a normal lunch (masks in and out, but not at the table) was great. Good food and the restaurant was half or a quarter full, but vibrant.

Another few hours to our destination and an hour meeting or so. Check in and a form to fill out for tracing purposes, but just paperwork to my mind.

Sitting in a meeting room and talking about the current difficult situation in the urethane industry. Exploring options that wouldn’t make it to the Zoom discussion (no two second delays). Real empathy between the participants about their current situations, none of which are good.

But a chance to sit face-to-face with people we’ve known for years to figure out solutions.

Followed up by a simple dinner among friends. We still discussed business, but also our personal issues and triumphs and (hopefully) small failures. How we’ve all fared this past year.

Followed up by a few tasks, and a new agenda to help us get through the current shortages and crises.

Then back to a hotel with no restaurant, not even an open front desk. No health club either, and masked guests in all public areas. But great nonetheless.

The next day, it was up with coffee and an apple for breakfast left over from the day before. Some time to catch up on emails. A brisk walk. Then off in the car for the trip home–phone calls the whole way until a lunch break. A great small restaurant recommended. Back to the office late that afternoon. Lots of details to catch up on, calls to reply to, emails to be sent. Another hour or two in the office.

It is time to get back to normal!

March 4, 2021

Time To Get Back To Work

These are the personal thoughts of the blogger and no more . . .

I had the opportunity to have a relatively normal (by car) business trip this week to visit a key supplier. It was a refreshing experience and it is time to encourage everyone to get back to normal, in my opinion.

The travel day was cold but sunny and a four or five hour car trip was involved. However, a stop half way and a normal lunch (masks in and out, but not at the table) was great. Good food and the restaurant was half or a quarter full, but vibrant.

Another few hours to our destination and an hour meeting or so. Check in and a form to fill out for tracing purposes, but just paperwork to my mind.

Sitting in a meeting room and talking about the current difficult situation in the urethane industry. Exploring options that wouldn’t make it to the Zoom discussion (no two second delays). Real empathy between the participants about their current situations, none of which are good.

But a chance to sit face-to-face with people we’ve known for years to figure out solutions.

Followed up by a simple dinner among friends. We still discussed business, but also our personal issues and triumphs and (hopefully) small failures. How we’ve all fared this past year.

Followed up by a few tasks, and a new agenda to help us get through the current shortages and crises.

Then back to a hotel with no restaurant, not even an open front desk. No health club either, and masked guests in all public areas. But great nonetheless.

The next day, it was up with coffee and an apple for breakfast left over from the day before. Some time to catch up on emails. A brisk walk. Then off in the car for the trip home–phone calls the whole way until a lunch break. A great small restaurant recommended. Back to the office late that afternoon. Lots of details to catch up on, calls to reply to, emails to be sent. Another hour or two in the office.

It is time to get back to normal!

March 3, 2021

BDO & PTMEG Asian Update

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Price change of spandex market around Spring Festival holiday Variety Unit 2021-2-6 2021-3-1 Change Change BDO yuan/mt 15,950 31,000 15,050 94.36% MMDI yuan/mt 21,600 22,500 900 4.17% PTMEG yuan/mt 23,325 30,300 6,975 29.90% Spandex 20D yuan/mt 56,000 74,000 18,000 32.14% Spandex 30D yuan/mt 54,000 70,000 16,000 29.63% Spandex 40D yuan/mt 46,000 61,000 15,000 32.61% Spandex market was in uptrend after the Spring Festival holiday, following gains on upstream market. The increment of BDO market outpaced other products amid short supply and strong downstream demand. With surging feedstock prices, tight supply and improving downstream demand, spandex prices firmly chased up. Upward tendency on spandex value chain will be hard to alter amid sound fundamental in short run based on the following logic. BDO and PTMEG market: Supply of spot BDO remained short. Sellers mainly guaranteed term volume, with little supply for spot transactions. However, demand from downstream sectors such as PTMEG, GBL, PBT and spandex market was buoyant. One thing should be noted: Affected by continuously jumping price, some players on PU market have turned to use other more cost-effective materials instead of BDO. Buyers were cautious in purchasing under high price and mainly purchased to cover the most pressing demand. However, prices of BDO are expected to sustain firm as supply is tight and sellers are reluctant to sell, expecting price to surge. Supply of PTMEG was still in shortage and downstream players hoped upstream feedstock supply to be ample to guarantee production. Offers for PTMEG 1800 were mainly at 43,000-45,000yuan/mt in Mar, negotiable in actual transactions, up by 18,000-22,000yuan/mt compared with Feb. Demand for PTMEG was hot and prices of upstream and downstream products both climbed. Price of PTMEG is anticipated to hike further. Spandex market: Production cost of spandex hiked with surging BDO price and bigger increment of PTMEG in Mar. In addition, operating rate of downstream plants gradually ascended after Spring Festival holiday. Supported by sound demand and booming upstream market, prices of spandex extended higher. Current prices of spandex were mixed. The operating rate of spandex was still at 95%. Most spandex companies ran at full capacity now. Stocks of spandex climbed to 8 days, sustaining low. Spandex companies strongly intend to raise price boosted by growing rigid demand and mounting cost. In short run, prices of spandex are anticipated to move higher amid short supply but risk will enlarge too after price surged. Spandex inventory of some downstream players is around 15-30 days. Later procurement of downstream market should be noted. All in all, spandex value chain is still anticipated to extend higher in short run. Downstream order and procurement change should be concerned after price surged.

https://www.ccfgroup.com/newscenter/newsview.php?Class_ID=D00000&Info_ID=2103026520004