In the last year, the business has had more shortages than I have seen in my three decades experience. In the past I have seen sharp price increases, and I have witnessed several shortages, and delivery issues on account of resin allocations by resin companies. This is actually the very first instance 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 Sheeting product PTFE (TFE) along with Kynar-PVDF manufacturing requires a mineral called Fluorspar that’s mined in Mongolia and China. The worldwide need for this mineral has increased significantly, as well as supply has tightened. PTFE materials have high heat resistance, excellent chemical resistance and really low co-efficient of friction (slippery) and is utilized throughout a bunch of applications from non-stick fry kitchenware to ptfe tape for use at home. This mineral is a crucial raw materials within the manufacturing of fluoropolymers, fluorolubricants and many refrigerants.This increasing amount of demand joined together with shortage of raw materials is mainly responsible for a dramatic price increase (almost double within the past year), shortages, and we expect both these factors to stay in affect in the near future.