UV RESIN PRICE DECREASES AGAIN
And about time too!
For the second time in June aliphatic UV Rein prices have dropped which comes as very welcome news to both resin bound suppliers and resin driveway installers.
It’s fair to say that the past 24 months have been very difficult times for the resin bound industry and all that’s attached to it. We’ve had fires, storms, boat crashes, container shortages and even war, not to mention Covid 19. Most of us were waiting for the locusts to turn up and render resin driveways simply to expensive of an option for our clients.
But as always time is a healer and finally we can see the sun peeking through the clouds, supply levels of HDI, one of the main components of resin binder is stable and stock supplies are growing month on month. This is great news for the end user, as HDI supplies grow and surplus stocks build fingers crossed we continue to see prices continue to fall, in-fact we are already seeing the first signs of it. Maybe this will be the start of the big chemical companies starting to compete again to gain your business!
It would be unfair of Durabound to say we are all out of the woods as we clearly are not, prices are still considerably more expensive than a couple of years back. Shipping of raw materials from China is still agonisingly slow and expensive to say the least, there is also still some dull clouds hanging over the plastic industry which has knock on effects for the resin driveway installer. No bucket no product, right?
But on the whole, we think its time to start smiling and become a little more optimistic about our future. We should all see a steady softening of price over the months to follow and it’s a time for us to reflect on the hard work we have all done over the last couple of years to keep the industry going. One problem that could of been avoided (and actually should have) was resin bound suppliers hyper inflating product costs for their own personal gain (shame on you). This unscrupulous approach really added insult to injury and heaped more pressure on loyal customers who really needed that product to stay afloat.
We are sure the suppliers that adopted the Dutch auction approach (highest bidder wins) will have their book of excuses at the ready, however time is fast closing in on their tactics and rightly so. It will take some silky-smooth talking to dig themselves out of the short term gains they have been enjoying. Only time will tell, its our opinion that these companies will regret selling their loyalty off at such a price. Anyways, life moves on! better times ahead, resin is flowing and it feels damn good.
So what other silver linings can we take out of all this? Well, we believe one real positive is how the resin bound driveway market has reacted to the huge price increases. Resin driveways did not grind to a holt, instead showing steady growth. That news is amazing for our industry and shows just how popular resin bound is with the end user. Prices of materials sometimes almost doubled, yet the general public still choose the product for their homes over many other paving options. This information is a solid indication that resin driveways are now price tested and here to stay, not a flash in the pan as some may wish and predicted.
All in all, things are looking up and Durabound wishes you and your landscaping company all the very best going forward, you have been through a lot over the last few years and if your business can survive that it can survive anything life throws at you! We salute you.
Well done,
Team Durabound