Within the last year, the business has had more challenges than I have come across inside my three decades experience. In the past I have seen sharp price increases, and I have seen several shortages, and delivery delays as a result of material allocations from plastic resin suppliers. This is the first instance I have seen all these issues at the same time.
Polytetraflouroethylene (TFE) and Kynar - PVDF are both on allocation.
The two of these resins are in short supply. The PTFE - Polytetrafluoroethylene product PTFE (TFE) as well as Kynar manufacturing requires a mineral called Fluorspar which is mined in Mongolia and China. The worldwide requirement for this mineral has increased significantly, along with the supply has tightened. PTFE materials have high temperature resistance, excellent chemical resistance and extremely low co-efficient of friction (slick) and is used throughout tons of applications from non-stick fry pans to ptfe tape for use at home. This mineral is a key raw materials inside the production of fluoropolymers, fluorolubricants and quite a few refrigerants.This increase in demand coupled with general shortage of raw materials is mainly responsible for a dramatic price increase (almost double in the last year), shortages, and we expect both these factors to keep at it in the near future.
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