EuMBC (European Compounders and Masterbatchers Association) questions the legality of recent high number of force majeure declarations. The reliability of the European polymer producing industry continues to raise serious concerns as over 40 force majeure situations have been declared in a period of only four months. Due to this sudden material shortage, production lines across Europe are forced to stop and raw material prices continue to rise to record highs.

During its general assembly in Warsaw on May 22, EuPC (European Plastics Converters) launched a strategic alliance for polymer supplies in Europe, to bring all forces together to fight this unjustified situation. It seems that after months of low oil prices the petro chemical industry appears to be clawing back margins in the polymer value chain by stopping some crackers in Europe one after the other. This situation is very serious, risking future customers for raw material producers and raising several antitrust concerns, and the EU authorities are starting to look deeper into these force majeure situations.

The strategic alliance for polymer supplies in Europe will provide detailed information on the current polymer market and help assist raw material users through its network of national plastics associations, as well as assist companies in requesting suspension of certain EU import duties to relieve the current shortages on polymer markets. Some companies will not survive this period due to their lack of sufficient volumes in stock, a consequence of the low demand in 2014. As a result, these companies face possible bankruptcies.

The alliance will also initiate a study on the aging of polymer sites in Europe, to provide more transparency on the future development of the polymer production sites in Europe. Some sites had more than 11 force majeure declarations in two years and the situation is not improving. It will be open to all companies and associations in Europe that need more information on how to supply their business with polymers in the next 5-10 years. A search for more material to be imported from outside the EU (where more modern production sites exist) will be conducted, as well as the potential setting up of group purchasing platforms (in compliance with EU competition law).