The Polymers for Europe Alliance- an online information platform set up by the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC)- has announced the results of the Polymer Supply Assessment 2021. According to the alliance, the assessment demonstrated the dissatisfaction of converters with suppliers in the past year, measuring the issue of ‘delivery reliability’ that it has identified as a crucial one for converters.
The results demonstrated that converters were more dissatisfied with ‘mainstream suppliers’ such as DuPont, Dow Chemical and Mitchubishi- which scored 53.3%, 46%, and 40% respectively- than they were with those such as Ercos (93.3%), Sibur (87.5%) and Sinopec (86.7%).
The alliance highlighted that the past year presented unprecedented circumstances for the supply chain, and the availability of materials was often a cause for concern. Converters were negatively impacted by the approach that suppliers took to index energy inflation and contract conditions for 2022, the alliance said, while Force Majeure cases have been declared at a record pace in 2021-surpassing the previous record year in 2015.
But the problem is far from over with the ongoing Force Majeures, rising energy costs and unaddressed material shortages, according to the alliance. On Thursday 3 March, it will be hosting a webinar for its members called ‘Rebuilding Polymers for Europe’ with EuPC, where it aims to discuss key learning from the challenges of the past year and explore solutions for the future.
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