Over the last year, the market has had more difficulties than I’ve come across in my three decades experience. In the past I have seen sharp price increases, and I have seen several shortages, and delivery issues due to resin allocations coming from plastic resin manufacturers. This is the first time I have seen all these issues at the same time.
PTFE (TFE) and PVDF are both on allocation.
This pair of resins are in short supply. The PTFE – Polytetrafluoroethylene product PTFE (TFE) and Kynar manufacturing requires a mineral called Fluorspar which is mined in Mongolia and China. The world demand for this mineral has grown significantly, additionally, the supply has tightened. PTFE materials have high temperature resistance, excellent chemical resistance and incredibly low co-efficient of friction (slick) and is utilised in a good deal of applications from non-stick fry kitchenware to ptfe tape for use at home. This specific mineral is the crucial raw materials within the production of fluoropolymers, fluorolubricants and a lot of refrigerants.This escalating demand bundled with shortage of raw materials is responsible for a dramatic price increase (almost double within the last year), shortages, and we expect both these factors to stay in affect in the near future.