Think its just COVID variant concerns and EU vaccine 'failure' shaking people out.

PeekingDuck said:

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Think its just COVID variant concerns and EU vaccine 'failure' shaking people out.

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I agree with this. Funny because we would have killed for $62 WTI a few months ago.

I think the move is largely rising Interest rates that have strengthened the dollar and decreased price of oil.

Largely unchanged or significantly down when compared to other currencies since late February. I don't see the dollar strengthening near or long term. There's a lot more that goes into the value than a slight increase in interest rates.

dallasag12 said:

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So much for $70. Looks like we may run down into the $50's. Outlets blaming inflation concerns. Guess I need to back out of the deal for the brand new lime green Malibu ski boat for this summer...

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Aaaaand, to $59...

WTF!?!?

• Lower demand from Chinese buyers
• Storage/stockpile inventories going up
• Vaccine issues in Europe
• Higher intake of crude from Iran recently

Can someone explain to me the ridiculousness of the market right now for PVC and HDPE resin? Doesn't seem like what happened in February in Texas should still be causing the prices and shortages we're seeing.

Market was crazy for pvc before the freeze event. I'm on the supply chain side for chemicals. Our hcl providers were telling us they were seeing unprecedented demand in January.

It was I agree, but the levels I'm seeing now are higher than anything I've seen in my 14 years of selling plastic pipes. The freeze just seemed to accelerate it

Freeze exacerbated an already tight market:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-week-texas-freeze-seen-triggering-monthslong-plastics-shortage-11615973401

I've got direct insight into big time manufacturing in the US for a particular industry and there is an unprecedented occurrence happening right now...

" As we indicated in our earlier correspondence, the worldwide supply chain is extremely fragile right now because of the much greater demand for materials than the supply. The recent extreme weather in Texas has made a bad situation much worse. Texas is the source of much of the world's resin production and the recent weather events shut down, and in some cases damaged, much of this production. This has caused ripple effects throughout the supply chain. Most experts expect there to be a 90 to 120-day disruption in the supply of resins."

I'm on the downstream side and we are seeing tons of delays on steel drums, labels, chemical additives and even base oil is still a mess from the freeze. Crazy how long this is lasting

A neighbor is high up at a furniture manufacturing company and she said you basically can't get foam (inserts for couch cushions) anywhere due to the downstream markets still being down. She said car manufacturers are also not able to make cars because of the same reason.

If you ship. anything by container, you can count on significant delays above and beyond manufacturing delays. If your supplies or finished product come in or go out by container, the global demand for containers is far exceeding the supply leading to multi-week delays all over the place.

Ha no kidding. The world definitely needs to be more educated with what all is created from crude oil. Not gonna lie, I don't even know and I'm in the industry.

Sporty Spice said:

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Ha no kidding. The world definitely needs to be more educated with what all is created from crude oil. Not gonna lie, I don't even know and I'm in the industry.

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not just crude, the carbon atom specifically.

Pahdz said:

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Can someone explain to me the ridiculousness of the market right now for PVC and HDPE resin? Doesn't seem like what happened in February in Texas should still be causing the prices and shortages we're seeing.

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It wasn't just the power loss and cold temps. The unexpected plant trips and freezing conditions caused serious equipment damage that is still being repaired.

I have multiple ChemE friends in plants along the gulf coast and many were down well beyond the week of cold. Huge supply chain issues for parts to fix the stuff that froze and broke. And turnarounds are coming too.

Don't think all the acrylic acid plants are back up yet. We are still having issues getting FR

New Euro extended lockdowns, a stronger dollar, and here we are at $57.50. WTF Europe...

That will have an impact

How in the world does something like that happen?

Nah it was probably more like "hey yall watch this"

third coast.. said:

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Damn ship people.

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Says a ship person!