Part of the price increases and product delay.

[EdColorado]

https://apnews.com/article/coronavir...309dae0354cf53


"The price of polyvinyl chloride or PVC, used for pipes, medical devices, credit cards, vinyl records and more, has rocketed 70%. The price of epoxy resins, used for coatings, adhesives and paints, has soared 170%. Ethylene — arguably the world’s most important chemical, used in everything from food packaging to antifreeze to polyester — has surged 43%, according to ICIS figures."

“You really have to put COVID truly in the rearview mirror for this logistics situation to normalize,” Pafford said. “You can’t simply just throw more ships and more containers on the water. ...We’ve got to get them loaded. If ports are going to be shut down because of a COVID lockdown — good luck.’’

[Bobbie54]

For the past six to nine months (not sure how long) we've had 2-4 freighters anchored off Whidbey (Holmes harbor) all the time. It's part of the backlog.

[Mike G]

PVC, epoxy resins, and ethylene are petrochemical products. Energy policy and related environmental policy play roles in the price increase as well.

[Chamberman]

Originally Posted by Mike G

PVC, epoxy resins, and ethylene are petrochemical products. Energy policy and related environmental policy play roles in the price increase as well.

Opportunism can also play a large role in these price increases. My personal example, back in 2018 within a few months of the first tariffs being set on China our largest chemical supplier sent us an updated list of prices for their chemicals. These are a variety of solvents, acids and bases, certainly not all sourced from the same chem manufacturers or feedstocks. The pricing was anywhere from 25 - 50% increased and of course the tariffs were the excuse for the large increase. I began shopping around and many of the smaller chemical suppliers I spoke with were not increasing prices and their sales reps told me that these chemicals were mostly unaffected by the tariffs and that any increased future pricing would be minimal like 5 - 10%. However magically within a year they all began massively increasing their prices too and once again pointing to the tariffs.