How come there's a TFE and Kynar extended delivery times

Over the past year, the business has experienced more allocations than I have come across within my thirty years experience. In the past I have seen sharp price increases, and I have experienced several shortages, and delivery problems because of material allocations by resin vendors. This is actually the first occasion I have seen all these issues at one time.

Polytetraflouroethylene (TFE) and PVDF are both on allocation.

This pair of resins are in short supply. The  PTFE Sheeting product PTFE (TFE) as well as Kynar-PVDF  manufacturing requires a mineral called Fluorspar that's mined in Mongolia and China. The world demand for this mineral has risen significantly, along with the supply has tightened. PTFE materials have high temperature resistance, excellent chemical resistance and very low co-efficient of friction (slippery) and is used throughout dozens of purposes from non-stick fry griddles to ptfe tape for home use. This particular mineral is a critical raw material inside the manufacturing of fluoropolymers, fluorolubricants and a lot of refrigerants.This increasing amount of demand paired with general shortage of raw materials has caused a dramatic price increase (almost double throughout the last year), shortages, and we expect both these factors to keep at it in the near future.

HDPE cutting board