March 2022

MARKET INFORMATION

2022 continues to be a very challenging year for the Global Supply Chain. 

The Ukraine crisis has had a massive impact on an already struggling Supply Chain following the Pandemic. Soaring energy costs, raw material shortages, factory closures/strikes, and major disruption within the logistics industry are some of the challenges the supply chain is facing right now and it is showing no signs of relenting.

Prices continue to rise sharply and it is becoming increasingly difficult to fix pricing for a period longer than a few days due to the speed at which price increases are coming through from all sides of the industry.

hero image

In this article we highlight for you the latest industry index graphs and forecasts for paper and polymer, together with information and data from within the logistics industry. We also share with you some of the most recent communications we have had from our manufacturing and logistics partners. 

Despite this unparalleled situation, we also want to reassure you that we are doing what we can to mitigate the impact to all of our Customers. Although these price increases are out of our control please be assured that we are going to great lengths to ensure continuity of supply and protect all our Customers from the scale of increases.

We also want to assure you that we are continuing to be proactive in purchasing huge amounts of product to increase our stockholding to help negate the current lengthy lead-times. We are also continuing to resource product and freight in view of maintaining our competitive advantage and hope that opportunity will arise for us to bring prices back down to all our Customers as soon as we possibly can.

In the meantime we appreciate and thank you for your patience and your continued support.

INDUSTRY RAW MATERIAL DATA

ICIS PLASTIC/POLYMER INDEX

LDPE covers single wound, pallet covers, top sheets etc., whilst LLDPE is used in stretch film products. Nano Machine Films are made from C6 and C8 Grade Polythene which isn’t tracked, however this has not followed the same pattern as C4 as it continues to increase in cost due to a supply shortage, increased transport costs and the fact that the market is controlled by two main players in Dow and Exxon.

EUWID PAPER INDEX

March Update: We have received warning notifications of €150-€250/Tonne on paper in April due to the impact of energy costs and the effect of the Ukraine crisis

SHIPPING AND TRANSPORT UPDATE

The rise in shipping and other transport costs is having a huge impact on the pricing, availability and lead times of goods.

Key Issues with the Transport Industry

  • Rising Costs of fuel, increasing labour costs and lower productivity which are all pushing up haulage costs
  • Oil prices continue to increase –$108+ per barrel
  • Driver shortages as a result of a lack of EU drivers and existing workers being enticed by more attractive supermarket work
  • Severe Congestion at UK ports and rail terminals, creating lengthy delays
  • Long queues at quay and rail terminals –up to 7 hours to collect containers in some cases
  • Average dwell time more than 9 days –double the average in 2020
  • Vessel discharge is taking longer –5/6 days in some cases
  • Carriers are overcommitted and rolling shipments
  • Schedule Reliability has fallen to record lows only 23% on time arrival in December
  • Port Congestion in US and Europe is reducing equipment availability at origin
  • Ongoing Space and equipment shortages across Asia and ISC
  • Rates from ISC have increased significantly with all vessels heavily overbooked

Search Results

Your search for ~ returned 0 results. Click through to the shop for more products and information


Products

Services

News

Case Studies