Dear Valued Customer,

The material world is continuing to see its challenges. From international delays, worker shortages, mismanaged shipping containers, and extreme weather in the south that has shutdown resin production, we are seeing unprecedented lead times and price increases.

We cannot stress enough the seriousness of the current situation. We are seeing stocked materials now going to 9 to 12 weeks or more. Major delays and Force Majeure are in place for Dupont (Zytel) materials, Sabic materials, ABS, and All Polyethylene and Polypropylene. One of many examples is the cost of polypropylene. It has risen from a cost of $.66 a pound from last August to today’s price of $1.37 (most likely another $.30 in March).

Due to all of the online shopping over the holidays, we are also noticing a shortage and price increases in packaging supplies as well. As always, we will do our best to deliver your parts on time and meet your packaging requirements. However, we ask that you please be patient as we are dealing with the same COVID – related staffing issues and price increases that I assume many of you are.

To assist with today’s resin crisis:

Send forecasts for next 6-12 months and place blanket P.O.’s through May to minimize piece part price increases.
Be proactive to look for material or brand alternatives (generics).
Lock in resin pricing with resin suppliers (IE Avient, Nexeo, DuPont, Sabic, AMCO, Polysource) on main resins to control pricing as an OEM. This can then be used by all of your vendors. We can assist with contact names if needed.

Thank you,

Danny Mishek

President, VistaTek