By Liz White, UT staffThe Woodlands, Texas-Huntsman Polyurethanes is to increase prices in the US for polyols and polyol blends by $0.06/lb, on 1 Oct, or as contracts allow.A statement from Huntsman said that this price increase "reflects high raw material costs, particularly with propylene oxide, ethylene oxide, and many of the initiators." Huntsman Corp. also announced 7 Sep that none of its manufacturing facilities was damaged by hurricane Katrina and all are up and operating, including its primary North American polyurethanes facility in Geismar, Louisiana. But the group said it "has seen a dramatic increase in the cost of energy and many of its key feedstocks on a global basis," and has also been adversely affected by restricted availability of certain raw materials, and logistics and transportation limitations."We are pleased the storm did not damage our manufacturing infrastructure and are grateful that none of our employees was injured, said Peter Huntsman, president and ceo. He also stressed the effect of higher costs for, and limited availability of, some raw materials, adding "we must meet the challenges of the damage to the transportation and logistics infrastructure the hurricane left in its wake." The Huntsman chief added that the facilities of some customers in the gulf coast region were damaged, which will affect "their ability to purchase our products." We are working to mitigate as efficiently and quickly as possible the impact of Hurricane Katrina on our operations but realize we likely will not know the full effect for some time to come."Peter Huntsman has written to tell customers that the company is increasing prices on products as soon as contracts allow, to reflect increasing raw material and energy costs, said a company statement. Where agreements allow, Huntsman said it will add fuel and/or transport surcharges to product pricing."
