Closure of the Suez canal heaps further pressure on chemical supply chains which are already suffering from product shortages and strong demand.
- Suez blockage adds to market woes caused by shipping container crisis; US, Europe and Middle East outages; semi-conductor shortages
- No sign of easing in many chemical markets – supply more important than price
- Cargoes stuck at Suez include base oils, methanol, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), polyethylene terephthalic (PET), monoethylene glycol (MEG), acetone, bisphenol A (BPA)
- Pressure building to make supply chains more robust
- Global base oils markets are dry, situation is critical
- China imports of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) have collapsed