Commodity Resins
The five main commodity resins are polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Key applications range from flexible and rigid food and non-food packaging, to a broad range of consumer goods products, agricultural and industrial products, automotive, and construction, including pipes.
ESSENTIAL READING
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Understanding and Troubleshooting Underwater Pelletization of PE
Compounders need to produce uniform, defect-free pellets for their processor customers. Here’s a guide to troubleshooting underwater pelletizing of PE.
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Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 6: PE Performance
Don’t assume you know everything there is to know about PE because it’s been around so long. Here is yet another example of how the performance of PE is influenced by molecular weight and density.
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Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 5: Metallocenes
How the development of new catalysts—notably metallocenes—paved the way for the development of material grades never before possible.
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Polyethylene Fundamentals – Part 4: Failed HDPE Case Study
Injection molders of small fuel tanks learned the hard way that a very small difference in density — 0.6% — could make a large difference in PE stress-crack resistance.
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Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 3: Field Failures
Polyethylene parts can fail when an inappropriate density is selected. Let’s look at some examples and examine what happened and why.
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The Fundamentals of Polyethylene – Part 2: Density and Molecular Weight
PE properties can be adjusted either by changing the molecular weight or by altering the density. While this increases the possible combinations of properties, it also requires that the specification for the material be precise.
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Latest Commodity Resins News And Updates
PureCycle Resin Recognized as PCR Content Under New Jersey Law
New Jersey has a minimum recycled content mandate level that increases every three years.
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Baerlocher Hosts 10th PVC Technical Summit
Presenters covered technical and leadership topics for a record-breaking audience.
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Nova Announces New Recycled PE Grades
Syndigo rPE-IN3 and rPE-IN4 recycled LLDPE grades are suitable for general purpose, non-food-grade applications.
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Shell Introduces Chrome Catalyst PE Grades
New grades for conduit, bulk containers and shipping applications are now available.
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Borealis Invests 49 Million Euros in Borstar Nextension PP Technology
Technology for polypropylene from single site catalyst expected to yield high performance monomaterials.
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Omya Performance Polymer Distribution Debuts at K 2025
The new venture, launched at K 2025, marks a strategic separation of Omya’s polymer distribution business from its traditional calcium carbonate and mineral operations, aiming to serve the plastics converter community.
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Featured Posts
June 2026: Upward Price Trajectory for the Five Commodity Resins Continues
Polyolefins face highest price hikes due to the Iranian conflict’s disruption of global energy, feedstock and resin trade flows.
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April 2026: Volume Resin Prices Mostly Up; Uncertainty Looms
Middle East conflict, energy costs and new tariffs create uncertainty for global feedstock and resin production, supply chain logistics and price trends.
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March 2026: Prices Up for PE, PP, PS, PVC; PET Flat
Upward trajectory in January for four of the five major commodity resins, but overall processors face less volatility.
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Understanding and Troubleshooting Underwater Pelletization of PE
Compounders need to produce uniform, defect-free pellets for their processor customers. Here’s a guide to troubleshooting underwater pelletizing of PE.
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February 2026: PE, PP, PVC Prices Flat to Up; PS and PET Flat to Down
Three of the five commodity resins are expected to move in a somewhat upward trajectory due to overall supply/demand imbalance strategies.
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January 2026: Prices of Volume Resins Mostly Down Entering 2026
Supply/demand imbalances, lower feedstock costs, and plant maintenance in Q1 are expected to keep most resin prices flat to down; however, upticks are likely in certain instances.
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FAQ: Commodity Resins
Polyethylene is considered a “commodity” material, a designation that gives the impression that not much thought needs to go into picking the correct grade of material. But PE can be remarkably complicated simply because it is the only polymer that is available across a wide range of densities.
