Many moves in thermoplastics, thermosets.

In mid-April, a new price initiative in PVC was just emerging, and one in PET seemed likely. Hikes in polyethylene and polystyrene announced in early April gained industrywide support relatively quickly. Generally, all these resin price hikes had a start date of May 1.

Meanwhile, a price increase in epoxy resins, initiated by Ciba-Geigy, was supported by the other two major players in that business. Also, widespread price increases are still rippling through polyurethane chemicals and systems.

PVC MOVE LAUNCHED

In mid-April, a new effort to raise PVC resins 1|cent~/lb on May 1 was apparently kicked off by Occidental Chemical. Other major producers were reported to have followed suit, but this was not confirmed by press time.

PE HIKES WELL UNDER WAY

Although PE suppliers failed to implement the 4|cents~/lb across-the-board increases issued near the end of 1991, they're trying again for increases in the range of 2-4|cents~/lb for LDPE, LLDPE and HDPE. Dow Chemical led this most recent move, which gained full industrywide support. Dow announced raises of 4|cents~/lb on all LDPE film and injection molding resins and 2|cents~/lb on LDPE extrusion-coating grades, effective April 15; and 3|cents~/lb on all LLDPE and HDPE film, injection, and blow molding grades for May 1. A key source at Dow explains that these are actually "implementation" dates for an earlier increase that was never rescinded.

Whereas virtually all other PE suppliers joined in with Dow's move, one exception was Quantum Chemical, which announced a 4|cents~/lb increase on LLDPE. Quantum, Union Carbide and Du Pont also raised their EVAs by 4|cents~/lb May 1.

PS SUPPLIERS TO RAISE TABS

Also led by Dow Chemical, a polystyrene price initiative gained industrywide support within the first week of April. Dow, Huntsman, Novacor, Fina, Chevron, and Mobil issued 4|cents~/lb increases on all standard GP, HIPS and high-heat grades, effective May 1. Dow, Huntsman and Mobil also asked for 6|cents~/lb increases on flame-retardant grades. (Amoco sources were unavailable for comment.)

PET INCREASE ATTEMPT LIKELY

Another price initiative on PET bottle resin is likely to emerge in this quarter or the next. This comes from sources at key resin suppliers and other industry observers, who say the move would be driven by continued strong demand and upwards pricing pressure from some raw materials.

EPOXY RESIN PRICES HIKED

Price increases for epoxy resins are under way industrywide in a move initiated by Ciba-Geigy in early March. The company issued a net selling-price increase of 4|cents~/lb for liquid, solution, solid and modified grades of its Araldite epoxy resins, effective March 15 for noncontract customers, and April 15 for contract customers. The two other key players, Dow and Shell, supported the move, though with slightly different effective dates.

URETHANES GO UP

In early April, BASF Corp.'s Specialty Systems Div. announced 7-9|cents~/lb higher prices for all its PUR system formulations, effective May 1. The company attributed this move to increased costs in all key raw materials including catalysts, polyols, TDI, MDI, and CFCs over the last couple of months. The most recent increases in PUR chemicals were hikes of 8|cents~/lb on polymeric MDI and 5|cents~/lb on pure MDI and derivatives on April 1. TDI prices were raised by 7|cents~/lb in January, though market prices are still well below list. Also in January, urethane catalysts went up by 4-10%.

Dow Chemical had notified customers in January of 8|cents~/lb increases in PUR systems, but the company was still attempting to implement those increases last month. There were also industry reports that Miles Inc. was notifying customers of a similar move, but this was not confirmed. Miles had already raised list prices of its Texin TPUs by 4-6% on March 15.