Plastic resins face supply crunch as prices skyrocket amid COVID-19
Global News
Industry experts say the ongoing shortage of the ubiquitous material is unlikely to be resolved quickly.
Plastic resins – tiny plastic pellets used to make everything from bread bags to milk containers – are undergoing a triple whammy of high demand, tight supply and soaring prices.
The raw ingredient that forms the base of all things plastic is emerging as the tiniest example of how COVID-19 is causing enduring supply chain turmoil.
Industry experts say the ongoing shortage of the ubiquitous material is unlikely to be resolved quickly, and that plastic resin price hikes are trickling down to consumer goods and adding to inflation.
“The conditions are very, very challenging,” said Bob Masterson, president and CEO of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, which represents the plastics industry. “These are prices the market has never seen.”
It started at the outset of the pandemic with a massive spike in demand for personal protective equipment like masks, face shields, gloves and gowns – much of which is made of single-use plastics.
The health crisis also shifted consumer buying habits. The stockpiling of groceries spurred demand for plastics – even toilet paper is wrapped in plastic – while grocers upped their plastic use to wrap or bag food for both in-store and online purchases.
Moreover, the shifting of food dollars away from restaurants – which buy food in larger bulk containers – to grocery stores also nudged up plastic packaging use more broadly.
At home improvement stores, as the price of lumber reached dizzying heights, some shoppers turned to materials made with plastics like composite decking or plastic sheds.
