Shortage of Vinyl Resins Affecting Construction & Medical Goods Industries

Amidst all the talk of product shortages and supply chain issues, there’s another factor that plays a key role here: that of the availability of the raw materials needed to make finished goods. No matter how the strong the demand for a particular product, firms are helpless to meet surging demand for goods without key raw materials. Outside of lumber and similar products, lack of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins is also causing havoc in a number of industries.

As this article indicates, strong demand for PVC had already affected the supply chain in 2020, and the winter storms that cut across Texas early in 2021 caused more difficulties. Plants that make PVC resins – as well as the refineries that make the feedstocks needed to produce to these resins – were forced to shut down due to a lack of electricity. In the meantime, demand for products made from PVC has continued to climb. For instance:

• High levels of new home construction have boosted demand for PVC windows and doors, pipe, vinyl siding, and other building and construction products.
• Strong shipments of medical goods (such as PPE) have promoted demand for vinyl films – often  specified because of their sterile properties.
• Continuing need for ventilators and other related medical equipment has boosted use of PVC tubing.

For more information and discussion of opportunities, see The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, particularly in the Construction and Building Products as well as packaging-related topics such as Pouches, Converted Flexible Packaging, Medical Device Packaging, and Global Disposable Medical Supplies. Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.