The Plastic Resin Buyer Brief

H1 2026 was one of the most active nomination environments in recent memory — north of 90 proposed increases across commodity and engineering resins in a single quarter. The justification was consistent: feedstock costs, supply disruptions, force majeure. Some of that was real. A lot of the ask on top of it wasn't. In this episode, we break down what H1 actually looked like from the buyer's side —...

PE inventories are at 46 days of supply. PP exports collapsed 17.6% in May. INEOS is permanently closing 400,000 metric tons per year of PS capacity in Illinois. Caprolactam dropped over $136/mt in a week. Crude oil fell nearly $5/bbl. And somewhere in all of this, the World Cup is selling out bars. This week's episode connects the dots between the summer plastics demand story — beverages, pool se...

Three signals converged in the resin market this week — and they all point in the same direction for buyers.  WTI crude dropped 9%+ on the U.S.-Iran peace agreement. Polyethylene posted its biggest inventory build in 11 years. And benzene, the key feedstock for PA6, PA66, ABS, and PC, settled at a multi-year high for June — but spot has already reverted to the $3s, setting up a July inflection poi...

The ACC's preliminary May data hit this week and it's decisively buyer-friendly — but only if you're paying attention. In this episode of Resin Market Moves, Michael Workman walks through the week's key market developments across nine major resin families: PE's MASSIVE build one of the largest single-month gains in years — and why it undermines this month's $0.10/lb increase initiative PP at 1.97...

It was dance recital week in the Workman household — and the chaos behind the scenes at the studio is a perfect metaphor for where the resin market sits right now. May settled cleanly on the surface. But TotalEnergies is still under force majeure in PP. A Phillips 66 turnaround is coming in June. Celanese is rationalizing PA66 capacity ahead of a Singapore unit closure in July. And inventory numbe...

May settlement week just drew the clearest line in months between markets where cost drives pricing and markets where producers are simply testing what buyers will accept. PP's PGP contract settled down 7 cents per pound. The resin market is expected to follow. That's a legitimate cost decline — buyers who document it and push back in writing capture it. PE settled flat for May, but a 10-cent-per-...

A supplier price increase letter hits your inbox. The clock starts immediately. Most buyers have two weeks to respond. Their suppliers are already working with current market intelligence, while many procurement teams are validating claims with data that's 30 to 60 days old. In this episode, Michael Workman and Brian Balboa break down what happens when a resin supplier announces a price increase —...

My son graduated from 5th grade yesterday. Watching him walk through that arch of balloons, one thought kept in my head, that what got him here isn't going to be enough for what's next. The same is true for resin buyers right now. April was the inflection month. The $0.30/lb PE increase that landed. The PP run-up. The benzene spikes that pushed nylon 6, polystyrene, and the rest of the aromatics h...

The resin market divided itself in May — and the right move in one half is the wrong move in the other.  In this week's episode, Michael Workman breaks down what's actually happening across all nine major resin markets and why buyers who treat them the same right now are leaving money in one category while overpaying in another.  PE is going flat despite a $0.20/lb nomination — buyer resistance is...

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...