Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – November 2022

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is November 2022. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the October 2022 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

 Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the October alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed.

 Section I. 

• Carbon dioxide: United States, European Union; production not keeping up with demand
• Diesel: United States; production not keeping up with demand
• Helium: global; production not keeping up with demand 

Section II.   Shortages Reported in November not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Graphite: United States; mining not keeping up with demand
• Paper: United States; production not keeping up with demand
• Sodium fluoride: United States; supply not keeping up with demand 

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: graphite
• Production not keeping up with demand: paper
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: sodium fluoride

Companies Producing Chemicals from Biomass

The following table identifies eight public companies that produce and sell chemicals produced from biomass materials:

 

company	chemicals
adm	polyols; solvents; dispersants; oils
corbion	lactic acid
neste oil	feedstock for plastics
origin materials	polyethylene terephthalate; furfural
sappi	furfural
stora enso	tall oil; turpentine
suzano	bio-oil
upm	nanofibrillar cellulose

 

Most of the companies in the table produce pulp and paper as their main products and therefore use wood as the biomass from which they also are producing the chemicals listed in the table.

The companies recognize the environmental-related imperatives to replace chemicals produced from fossil fuels with chemicals produced by another raw material source.  Since renewable wood is the prominent raw material resource for these companies, they are strongly motivated to find ways of producing chemicals from the biomass wood.

 

  

Using Exchange-traded Funds for Chemical Industry Performance Benchmarks

Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs), such as Fidelity’s MSCI Materials Index ETF (FMAT), can provide performance data for the group of companies in the fund.  Such data might be useful for individual companies benchmarking their data to.  Data such as the average price to earnings, earnings growth, sales growth, cash flow growth, and dividend yields for the companies in the index can be provided by the ETFs.   Individual companies might use this data to benchmark their performance to.

Also, ETF’s price charts, provided by the ETFs, can be useful in comparing how investors viewed the value of the funds’ holdings over time.  Usually, the fund’s price-over-time can be compared directly to other indexes over time, such as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.  This comparison can show how the chemical industry, represented by the ETF, is doing against wider, broader indexes of economic performance.

The FMAT has approximately 120 companies in its index, most of which are chemical companies, or companies very relevant to the chemical industry.   Here is a list of companies in the FMAT index:

 

AdvanSix Inc	Corteva	Linde	RPM International
Air Products & Chemicals	Crown Holdings	Livent	Ryerson Holding
Albemarle	Diversey Holdings	Louisiana-Pacific	Schnitzer Steel Industries
Alcoa	Dow	LSB Industries	Sealed Air
Alpha Metallurgical Resources	DuPont de Nemours	LyondellBasell	Sensient Technologies
Amcor	Eagle Materials	Martin Marietta Materials	Sherwin-Williams
American Vanguard	Eastman Chemical	Materion	Silgan Holdings
Amyris	Ecolab	Mativ Holdings	Sonoco Products
AptarGroup	Ecovyst	McEwen Mining	Ss Inst Treas Plus Fund
Arconic	Element Solutions	Mercer International	Steel Dynamics
Ashland	FMC	Minerals Technologies	Stepan
Aspen Aerogels	Freeport-McMoRan	MP Materials	Summit Materials
ATI	FutureFuel	Myers Industries	SunCoke Energy
Avery Dennison	Ginkgo Bioworks	NewMarket	Sylvamo Corp
Avient	Glatfelter	Newmont	The Chemours Company
Axalta Coating Systems	Graphic Packaging	Nucor	The Mosaic Company
Balchem	Greif Inc Class A	O-I Glass	The Scotts Miracle Grow Co
Ball	Greif Inc Class B	Olin	TimkenSteel
Berry Global Group	H.B. Fuller	Origin Materials	Tredegar
Cabot	Hawkins	Orion Engineered Carbons	TriMas
Carpenter Technology	Hecla Mining	Packaging Corp of America	Trinseo
Celanese	Huntsman	Pactiv Evergreen	Tronox Holdings
Century Aluminum	Ingevity	Perimeter Soln Sa	United States Lime & Minerals
CF Industries	Innospec	Piedmont Lithium	United States Steel
Chase	International Flavors & Fragrances	PPG Industries	Valvoline
Clearwater Paper	International Paper	PureCycle Technologies	Vulcan Materials
Cleveland-Cliffs	Intrepid Potash	Quaker Houghton	Warrior Met Coal
Coeur Mining	Kaiser Aluminum	Ramaco Resources	Westlake
Commercial Metals	Koppers Holdings	Reliance Steel & Aluminum	WestRock
Compass Minerals	Kronos Worldwide	Royal Gold	Worthington Industries

 

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – October 2022

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is October 2022. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the September 2022 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list. 

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the September alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed. 

Section I. 

• Helium: global; production not keeping up with demand 

Section II.   Shortages Reported in October not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Carbon dioxide: United States, European Union; production not keeping up with demand
• Chlorine: United States; production not keeping up with demand
• Diesel: United States; production not keeping up with demand
• Fertilizer: developing countries; supply not keeping up with demand
• Natural gas: global; supply not keeping up with demand
• Sulfur: global; production not keeping up with demand
• Titanium: European Union; supply not keeping up with demand
• Toluene diisocyanate: European Union; production not keeping up with demand 

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: none
• Production not keeping up with demand: carbon dioxide, chlorine, diesel, sulfur, toluene diisocyanate
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: fertilizer, natural gas, titanium

Minerals and Chemical Companies

The purpose of this blog is to gain a better understanding of how chemical companies interact with minerals.  The following provides various interactions between chemical companies and minerals. 

• Chemical companies sell chemicals to assist in the extraction of minerals from mined materials.  Companies that sell such chemicals include: Arkema; BASF; Clariant; Olin; and Solvay.
• Chemical companies rely on minerals as raw materials for producing their products.  Companies that rely on minerals for raw materials include BASF; Mosaic; Solvay; Umicore; and Yara.
• Chemical companies own mines and process materials mined from mines to obtain minerals.  Companies that own mines and process materials for minerals include Albemarle; Chemours; and Clariant.
• Chemical companies, in addition to providing chemicals for assisting in extracting minerals from materials, provide consulting services related to minerals.  These services include ways of recycling minerals.  Companies that provide such services include Akzo Nobel; Clariant; and Umicore.

Like other natural products important as raw materials for providing products in demand by an increasing global population, the supply and use of minerals will be important.  The ways in which chemical companies use and interact with minerals, for example, those provided above, need to continue to be researched, developed, improved, and implemented. 

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – September 2022

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is September 2022. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the August 2022 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list.

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the August alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed. 

Section I. 

• Construction materials:  United States; production not keeping up with demand 

Section II.   Shortages Reported in September not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Helium: global; production not keeping up with demand
• Inorganic chemicals: Germany; supply not keeping up with demand 

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: none
• Production not keeping up with demand: helium
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: inorganic chemicals 

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – August 2022

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is August 2022. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the July 2022 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list. 

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the July alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed. 

Section I. 

• Construction materials:  United States, United Kingdom; production not keeping up with demand
• Carbon dioxide: United States, European Union, United Kingdom; supply not keeping up with demand

 Section II.   Shortages Reported in August not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Packaging materials: European Union,; production not keeping up with demand

 Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: none
• Production not keeping up with demand: packaging materials
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: none

Chemical Companies Interests in the Use of Nuclear Energy

Interest in using nuclear energy to replace energy generated by fossil fuels is being reflected by a few chemical companies in their public announcements and annual reports.  A major reason for this interest is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

Arkema stresses in its 2021 annual report that 33% of its total electricity used in 2021 came from nuclear energy versus 37% from fossil fuels and 18% from renewables. 

Dow Chemical’s management has announced recently that the company expects to employ a small modular reactor within a few years at one of its chemical production’s sites. 

Kemira has invested in a Finnish nuclear plant in order to increase its use of nuclear energy in its electricity requirements.  Kemira is projecting that its electricity use in Finland, now approximately 40% provided by nuclear energy, will increase to approximately 75% provided by nuclear energy in the coming years.

Synthos is partnering with the nuclear energy company, GE-Hitachi, in developing small modular reactor use at its chemical sites in Poland. 

The technical developments of small modular reactors apparently is progressing significantly to where their use at chemical plants is being seriously considered, e.g., by Dow and Synthos.  A World Nuclear Association report provides details on the use of small modular reactors in such applications as at chemical plants.   Click here to read that report.

 

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – July 2022

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet.  The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet.  The issue period of the news releases is July 2022. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply.  Click here to read the June 2022 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list. 

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the June alert).  Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information.  This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases.  Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed. 

Section I. 

• Construction materials:  United States, Canada, the European Union, and New Zealand; production not keeping up with demand
• Helium: Global; production not keeping up with demand 

Section II.   Shortages Reported in July not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Carbon dioxide: United States, Italy; supply not keeping up with demand
• Fiber optics cable: Global; production not keeping up with demand
• Magnesium: United States; supply not keeping up with demand
• Natural gas: European Union; supply not keeping up with demand 

Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: none
• Production not keeping up with demand: fiber optics cable
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: carbon dioxide, magnesium, natural gas

Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert – June 2022

The purpose of this blog is to identify chemical and metal shortages reported on the Internet. The sources of the information reported here are primarily news releases issued on the Internet. The issue period of the news releases is June 2022. 

Section I below lists those chemicals and metals that were on the previous month’s Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list and continue to have news releases indicating they are in short supply. Click here to read the May 2022 Chemical and Metal Shortage Alert list. 

Section II lists the new chemicals and metals (not on the May alert). Also provided is some explanation for the shortage and geographical information. This blog attempts to list only actual shortage situations – those shortages that are being experienced during the period covered by the news releases. Chemicals and metals identified in news releases as only being in danger of being in shortage status are not listed. 

Section I. 

• Chlorine: United States; supply not keeping up with demand
• Construction materials:  United States, the European Union, and New Zealand; production not keeping up with demand
• Dye used in imaging for contrast: United States; production not keeping up with demand
• Helium: Global; production not keeping up with demand
• Pesticides: United States; supply not keeping up with demand 

Section II.   Shortages Reported in June not found on the Previous Month’s Lists 

• Diesel exhaust fuel/urea: United States: supply not keeping up with demand

 Reasons for Section II shortages can be broadly categorized as:  

• Mining not keeping up with demand: none
• Production not keeping up with demand: none
• Sources no longer available: none
• Insufficient imports:  none
• Supply not keeping up with demand: diesel exhaust fuel/urea

Bio-based Raw Materials Being Used at Several Chemical Companies

The annual reports of several large, global chemical companies were searched to identify bio-based raw materials being used by those companies.  The following table identifies eight chemical companies, which identify in their annual reports, chemicals being made from bio-based raw materials:

 

company	chemicals being made from bio-based raw materials
akzo nobel	paints
arkema	polyamides
basf	surfactants
covestro	aniline; resins; wood hardeners; polycarbonate films
dow	polyolefin elastomers; plasticizers
dsm	polyethylene fibers; intermediates in flavors and fragrances production
evonik	surfactants; rhamnolipids
wacker	acetic acid; methanol

 

Finding bio-based raw materials to replace fossil fuels as the raw material for producing chemicals has become a high priority for many chemical companies.  Not only are chemical companies responding to social and political pressures to reduce fossil fuels a raw material, but the chemical companies are responding to their customers who are buying the chemicals.  For example, those customers that use the chemicals to produce personal care products are finding that their customers want products made from bio-based raw materials.