Interview with Heytex-Management on current market situtation. Oct 2022

WE CONTINUE TO EXPECT PRICES TO RISE SLIGHTLY IN ALL SECTORS.

 

Fabian Kampsen and Robert Lerch represent the Management Board of the Heytex Group. Fabian is a “home grown” Heytex Manager and since 2020 in the position of Commercial Director. Robert came to Heytex some 5 years ago being the Global Procurement Director with a proven record from various international assignments in different industries. Regarding the current market situation for Technical Textiles, both got together reflecting on the actual developments since March 2021 on a regular basis..

 

 

Fabian: Robert, a few months have passed since our last interview, so I am curious – what was the situation on the commodity markets like in the recent past?
Robert: It remains exciting! Certainly, the supply situation on the chemical raw material markets has
eased to some extent, especially for PVC and plasticizers. The low water in the Rhine has been overcome, demand is lower, output
has increased again after the end of planned shutdowns for maintenance, so the best conditions for falling prices.
Fabian: That sounds good and will certainly please our customers!
Robert:  Stop, stop! Unfortunately, there are a few other influencing factors that have developed in the opposite direction.
The galloping energy costs are hitting all producers with unchanged harshness. Significantly rising labor costs are priced in, and the unfavorable € to $ exchange rate is playing a major role in the procurement of basic raw materials.
So we expect an easing in the chemical sector, but nowhere near to the extent that the pure precursor analyses (ethylene, naphtha, etc.)
would suggest.

Fabian: How does that look for textile carriers?

Robert: Here, too, we had to deal with an all-time high in the last quarter.
Volume-regulated production in China with government-controlled energy allocations has driven prices up. However, oversupply and finally
falling freight prices from Asia will play a partially countervailing role here in 2023.

Fabian: The biggest challenge at the moment, apart from the factors already described, is therefore the situation on the energy markets. How do we meet this presumably long-term challenge?

Robert: Of course, we reacted immediately and, among other things, initiated internal energy-saving
measures, which were also implemented immediately. But that is only one (minor) influencing factor.
In addition, we will soon expand our existing photovoltaics to make us more independent from supply.
To this end, we have changed our purchasing methodology for gas and electricity in order to be able to react more quickly to changing market situations.

Fabian: Currently, many of our customers are in the budget process for 2023.
In addition to general uncertainty in market demand, it is primarily the outlook for raw material costs that concerns our customers. What are
your expectations?

Robert: By its very nature, budget planning requires a lot of foresight and consideration of uncertain influencing factors. That doesn‘t exactly make 2023 easy.
After many discussions with our suppliers from all sectors (energy, textiles, chemicals), we expect prices to continue to rise slightly to a maximum of moderately in the first half of the year, after which – most likely – a slight easing will become apparent.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

Global Supply Chain Situation Oct 2022

Global Supply Chain Situation Oct 2022

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