"Product prices must rise" say plastics converters

Customers of the Europe’s plastics converters must recognise the need for increased prices for the plastics products they are buying. This is the stark message today from the processors’ Brussels- based organisation, European Plastics Converters Association.

Illustrations of the cost pressures have been reported to EuPC by several national member associations. Figures from France indicate that since January 2004 the price of Polyethylene has increased by 90% whilst those of Polypropylene and Polystyrene have mounted by 63% and 70%
respectively. In the Netherlands there are reports of recent raw material price increases of more than 20% and in the UK, in addition to the material input price rises, processors are seeing up to 100% increases in their energy bills as they move onto new supply contracts this Autumn.

EuPC also points out that whilst the oil price has reduced from its earlier peak this will take time to feed through to raw material prices, if at all. ‘Oil is certainly a major factor driving prices’, said Dangis, ‘but naphtha and the chemical building blocks from which plastics are made have their own supply and demand story, and international trade movements also play a key role. The price of oil and its derivatives are also at the mercy of international events risk and difficult to predict’.

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( Source: Packaging Europe )