Since the start of the pandemic over two years ago, force majeure announcements have been hanging over the plastics processing industry in Europe like the sword of Damocles. Most companies in the sector will be familiar with the dreaded letters from resins suppliers announcing the (frequently immediate) suspension of agreed-upon delivery contracts.Sometimes this is due to an unexpected plant failure, while at other times it can be due to the non-delivery of precursor products, the weather (a choice of too hot, too cold, or too stormy), strikes, or other occurrences.

Related: Interview with commercial law expert: War as a reason for invoking FM?

Since Russia started its war of aggression against Ukraine, and with China’s Shanghai having been in lockdown for about two months, global supply chains have become more fragile than virtually ever before. Uncertain supplies and material bottlenecks are now threatening the very existence of sectors including the plastics industry on a daily basis. Added to this are the energy and logistics prices that have been moving in only one direction, namely sharply upward, for months on end now. The higher these costs become, the more the plastics converters’ margins shrink.

In the light of the current situation, we have thus revised our special publication that sets out the most important questions relating to force majeure and are making the update available to you.



Write to us if there are questions you would like to have answered or if you have anything to add to the answers given on behalf of force majeure or any other supply chain issue: press@pieweb.com.