I am writing this article in March of 2021, and what we are seeing is that in the last few months, global prices for epoxies have increased.
Problems started when there were shortages of raw materials like BPA and various types of solvents. This led to increases in the prices of epoxy resin. These price increases were passed on to manufacturers (like myself) of epoxy systems. Manufacturers have had to deal with other increases as well. The cost of shipping (and importing) overseas has skyrocketed to due to shortages in containers.
The price of metal has also increased which has also increased the price of tin pails that are used to package epoxy coatings. Certain fillers are also seeing a price increase.
This domino of price increases is forcing manufacturers, wholesalers and store owners to pass on the price increases to the final end-users.
But apart from the increases, another problem is that a lot of products are in short supply. If you thought epoxies were bad, the market for aliphatic polyurethanes is even worse. Entire factories are shutting down their production, as they don’t have the raw material to produce. Weather problems in some parts of the world (like the cold snap in Texas) further exarcebated these problems.
I have personally been forced to replace some of my own epoxy hardeners just to be able to keep producing my orders.
This global shortage of crucial raw materials is a knock on effect of the mayhem that COVID caused on our economies.
I wrote an article on how inflation is on the rise, and how this will impact everybody. You can read my article here.
Take care everyone & stay patient, hopefully things will be back to normal by the end of the summer.
Akis Apostolopoulos
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