Dramatic increase in feedstock prices for 2 years leads to gloomy perspective for synthetic roofing membrane

05-Jul-11

At their latest annual General Assembly, the members of the European association for Single ply Waterproofing membranes (ESWA) expressed their deep concern about the dramatic increase of the prices of their main raw materials for nearly 2 years and the gloomy perspectives for the future.Compared to January 2010, prices have roughly increased with 30% for PVC, 50 % PP and up to 80% for plasticizers. In addition to these main raw materials, very sizeable increases were imposed on numerous and already expensive additives like stabilizers and pigments. In some cases these price increases are combined with a reduced availability and some “force majeure” supply breakdowns have seriously disrupted processing production. All this has lead to an overall increase of the total cost price of a synthetic roofing membrane which can be estimated to more than 50%. Competitiveness of the industry sector is at stake. ESWA is the leading EU level trade Association, based in Brussels, representing the plastics roofing membranes manufacturers employing thousands of workers in mainly small and medium sized companies.