Within the last year, the business has had more shortages than I have seen around my thirty years experience. In the past I have seen sharp price increases, and I have experienced several shortages, and delivery delays because of material allocations coming from resin companies. This is actually the very first instance I have seen all these issues at the same time.
Polytetraflouroethylene (TFE) and PVDF both are on allocation.
This pair of resins are in short supply. The PTFE Sheeting product PTFE (TFE) as well as Kynar-PVDF manufacturing requires a mineral called Fluorspar that is mined in Mongolia and China. The worldwide interest in this mineral has risen significantly, additionally, the supply has tightened. PTFE materials have high temperature resistance, excellent chemical resistance and really low co-efficient of friction (slippery) and is used throughout tons of applications from non-stick fry pots and pans to ptfe tape for personal use. This particular mineral is a essential raw material in the manufacturing of fluoropolymers, fluorolubricants and many refrigerants.This rise in demand mixed with general shortage of raw materials has caused a dramatic price increase (almost double throughout the last year), shortages, and we expect both these factors to continue in the near future.
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