— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Citing “unprecedented” disruption across the polymer supply chain, the Polymers for Europe Alliance has suspended its annual Best Polymer Producers Awards, which this year was to focus on commitment to the European market.

According to the Alliance, the market is being shaped by the ongoing Middle East crisis, marked by severe volatility in availability, pricing, and contract stability. “The instability in the current situation renders it impossible to take a balanced view of our suppliers’ performance,” the group said, noting that pressures continue to fluctuate sharply.

The Alliance drew a clear distinction between supplier behaviours. Some producers, it said, are “terminating contracts without consultation” and prioritising higher financial gains “regardless of outstanding commitments”.

Related: PIE interview: Does the Iran war justify delivery halts and massive price increases?

Others, it said, are maintaining long-term partnerships through consultations, flexible payment terms, and efforts to avoid structural damage to the supply chain “in the knowledge that this situation, extreme as it is, is nonetheless temporary”.

The Polymers for Europe Alliance said it is planning a further statement at the EuPC Annual Meeting in June.

The decision to halt this year’s awards process follows mounting concerns raised by European Plastics Converters (EuPC, Brussels; www.plasticsconverters.eu), which initiated the Alliance in 2015. The association had previously warned of the strong pressure processors are facing as geopolitical tensions escalate.

Companies had already been reporting, in late March, sudden raw material price increases, supply instability, and “extreme difficulties” in production planning. EuPC cautioned that this could force converters to scale back or halt output, and warned that, in a worst-case scenario, firms unable to absorb rising costs could be forced to close.