The Plastic Resin Buyer Brief

This week delivered five market-moving events in seven days: crude oil swung 12% in 48 hours, TotalEnergies declared Force Majeure at LaPorte, Braskem challenged Brazilian antidumping duties on US PE, Celanese announced PA66 capacity closures, and Lone Star Funds moved to consolidate two major PA66 producers. Michael Workman breaks down what's signal vs. noise — and introduces the framework he sha...

Four consecutive months of PP contracts finishing higher. Benzene up 62 cents in a month. PVC at 16 days of supply. It feels like you're killing a penalty that never ends. But disciplined buyers don't drop the stick. This week, Michael Workman breaks down the market across PP, PS, ABS, PC, and PVC — and more importantly, where buyers still have leverage right now before May nominations fully land....

This week’s Resin Market Moves focuses on a dynamic that doesn’t show up in market reports, but is actively shaping outcomes in April: increase fatigue. With polyethylene, polypropylene, ABS, PVC, nylons, and PET all moving higher at the same time, buyers are being hit with a volume of increase letters that’s difficult to process — and in many cases, they’re disengaging at exactly the wrong moment...

There’s a lot of noise in the resin market right now. Headlines, supplier messaging, market updates—it’s constant. And when things get volatile, it’s easy to feel like you need to react to all of it. In this session, we talk through how we separate real signals from noise. What actually matters, what doesn’t, and how strong procurement teams make better decisions when the market is moving. We cove...

There's a story Michael Workman lived through that's especially relevant now. It goes back to his time in sales at PolyOne, when a rigorous deal autopsy process surfaced an uncomfortable truth: the number one business reason they were losing deals wasn't service, wasn't competitive pricing, wasn't relationships. It was that their resin input costs were wrong at the time of quoting. In this episode...

This week's Resin Market Moves covers the defining market dynamic of April 2026: every major resin category is moving higher at the same time, all driven by the same upstream cost stack. PE, PP, ABS, PS, PC, PVC, PET, PA6, and PA66 are all under upward pricing pressure — and the window to influence Q2 outcomes is narrowing fast. Michael Workman, CMO of ResinSmart, walks through what's actually dri...

Host: Michael Workman, Commercial Director, ResinSmart Runtime: 4:14 Episode Summary The April feedstock contracts settled sharply higher across the board — and producers across every major resin category are pushing price increases into Q2. In this short episode, Michael Workman gives plastic manufacturers and procurement teams a fast, buyer-side read on what's driving the market and where there'...

This week on Resin Market Moves, Michael Workman covers the full Q2 resin market picture from the prior week. The headline: producers are moving beyond cost recovery and into margin expansion — layering increases across March, April, and now May in PE and PP. The Hormuz situation is real supply risk and it's providing strategic cover for moves that were coming regardless. This episode covers PE, P...

This week on Resin Market Moves, Michael Workman covers the most consequential week in resin pricing in recent memory — and breaks down exactly what buyers should do about it. The conflict in the Middle East has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to meaningful trade flow. Over 20% of global crude and more than 5% of global PP moves through that channel. It is not moving right now. The result:...

If you're a plastic processor, resin is your single largest variable cost — and the market has been engineered to keep you at a disadvantage. Supplier reps walk into every negotiation with hundreds of live transaction prices across their entire book of business. Most buyers walk in with an index and instinct.   That gap is real. And it's costing your company money every quarter.   In this episode,...

This week, crude oil spiked to a 4-year high near $120/barrel following military action in the Middle East and threats to the Strait of Hormuz. Resin producers across PE, PP, PS, PVC, PET, and engineering resins are pushing price increases — but what does the supply/demand data actually say? In this episode, Michael Workman breaks down data across nine major resin families, explaining where the up...

Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have begun to ripple through energy and petrochemical markets. Crude oil has moved above $70 per barrel, propylene prices have surged, and polyethylene producers are already pushing price increases. But are these signals pointing to a real tightening of the resin market—or simply a shift in supplier narrative? In this episode of Resin Market Moves , we brea...

Military escalation in the Middle East has introduced significant uncertainty into global polyethylene and polypropylene markets. In 2024, the Middle East accounted for:  • 37% of globally traded PE exports  • 28% of globally traded PP exports With approximately 16 million metric tons of polyethylene exports potentially exposed to disruption, the implications extend far beyond the region. In this...

The Supreme Court just reshaped U.S. tariff authority, eliminating IEEPA as a tool for broad-based tariffs. What does that mean for polyethylene, polypropylene, and PVC buyers? In this episode, we examine: PE inventory build Elevated PGP and its impact on PP Turnaround-driven PVC support Feedstock inflation risks How structural pricing drift builds in opaque markets For executives responsible for...

Recorded live from Fort Worth, the ResinSmart by RTI team kicks off 2026 with a candid roundtable discussion on the forces shaping resin markets this year. With resin prices near multi-year lows, procurement teams face a new challenge: proving value when the market did most of the work in 2025. In this episode, Michael Workman, Brian Balboa, Kevin Mekaru, and Tyler Wheeler discuss: What polyethyle...

A major North American pricing index just announced a non-market adjustment (NMA) for polyethylene. Depending on the grade, the impact is between 25cpp-35cpp. On paper, it looks like a massive correction. In reality? It’s creating confusion across procurement, finance, and executive leadership teams. A non-market adjustment corrects index history — it does not automatically change your invoice. It...

Early 2026 is not behaving like a typical resin cycle. Polyethylene inventories surged — yet producers are pushing price increases. Polypropylene is seeing feedstock pressure. Polystyrene is reacting to benzene spikes. PVC is tightening due to turnaround season. PET remains weak — for now. So what’s real? In this episode of Resin Market Brief, Michael Workman explains: Why inventory builds don’t a...

There are two types of resin buyers: those who’ve been wrong on a forecast—and those who will be. In this special edition of Resin Market Brief, Michael Workman and Tyler Wheeler discuss why resin forecasts break and what top procurement teams do differently to defend them. Key topics: why forecasts aren’t predictions—they’re decision tools for finance and operations the 9 levers that drive resin...

In this episode of Resin Market Moves , Michael Workman, Executive Director of ResinSmart, walks through the key risks shaping the North American plastic resin market in early 2026. Rather than a demand-led recovery, markets are being driven by: supply discipline in polyethylene feedstock volatility in polypropylene cost push without demand support in polystyrene rising raw material costs beneath...

January set the tone for 2026: selective tightening, feedstock volatility, and supplier initiatives moving faster than demand. This week’s Resin Market Moves covers: PE increases driven by supply discipline PP feedstock pressure from PDH outages PS cost push without demand support Engineering resins stable, but RMC rising Nylon supplier initiatives ahead of fundamentals PET rollover and what to wa...

In this episode, Michael Workman reviews the key signals shaping resin procurement through late January 2026: cautious macro conditions, energy/feedstock volatility, and supply disruptions that are tightening select resin chains. Key topics: PE: winter storm disruption risk + Ineos FM tightening HD pipe/film PP: PDH outages lifting PGP and pushing contracts higher PS: benzene-driven cost pressure...

This week’s Resin Market Moves breaks down how supply-side events and feedstock pressure are shaping resin pricing early in 2026. We cover: PE force majeure and rising January nominations PP feedstock-driven pricing pressure PVC capacity closures and pricing risk PS increases tied to benzene What rising RMC means for engineering resins This is not a uniform upcycle—it’s a selective, volatility-dri...

In this episode of Resin Market Moves , Michael Workman walks through how North American resin markets are beginning 2026—and why buyers should expect uneven pricing behavior by resin family , not a clean January reset. Soft demand carryover from 2025 continues to weigh on PE and PP, while supply discipline is already pushing PVC prices higher. Meanwhile, rising benzene and styrene costs are givin...

Welcome to the first Resin Market Moves of 2026. In this episode, Michael Workman breaks down one of the year’s first major Black Swan events — the U.S. move to effectively control Venezuelan oil production — and explains what it does and does not mean for North American plastic resin pricing . This is not a headline-driven take. It’s a practical, buyer-focused analysis of how energy markets, refi...

As the plastics industry closes out 2025, resin buyers are entering a critical planning window for 2026. In this episode of Resin Market Brief , Michael Workman and Kevin Mekaru break down what the data actually says about where resin markets are headed — and how buyers should be preparing. This is not a headline-driven forecast. It’s a practical, buyer-focused discussion on signals vs. noise , wh...