Over the last year, the market has experienced more allocations than I've come across in my 30 years experience. In the past I have seen sharp price increases, and I have experienced several shortages, and delivery delays stemming from material allocations through resin companies. This is actually the first instance I have seen all these issues at the same time.
PTFE Sheet (TFE) and Kynar - PVDF are both on allocation.
These two resins are in short supply. The PTFE Sheeting product PTFE (TFE) as well as Kynar-PVDF manufacturing requires a mineral called Fluorspar which is mined in Mongolia and China. The worldwide demand for this mineral has grown significantly, and the supply has tightened. PTFE materials have high temperature resistance, excellent chemical resistance and very low co-efficient of friction (slick) and is utilized throughout a lot of purposes from non-stick fry pots and pans to ptfe tape for personal use. This mineral is a important raw material inside the manufacturing of fluoropolymers, fluorolubricants and quite a few refrigerants.This increasing amount of demand joined together with shortage of raw materials is responsible for a dramatic price increase (almost double during the last year), shortages, and we expect both these factors to continue in the near future.
When you are shopping around for a plastic sheet supplier you will additionally want to research the business that you are dealing with to ensure that they are going to be around for a long period of time. If you are going to be having a great deal of issues with your plastic sheet supply you are most likely to wish to make sure that you are going to have the ability to depend on them to continue to supply you with the premium item that you have actually pertained to expect, over the years.