A key building material used in everything from water pipes to window frames jumped to a fresh record high in the U.S., providing inflation bulls with even more ammunition as consumer prices soar.
Hurricane Ida knocked more than 60% of America’s polyvinyl chloride production offline, according to data provider ICIS. It’s the latest hit to a Gulf Coast industry after a historic freeze in February triggered widespread outages. The price rally is reverberating around the world: The U.S. is now the biggest exporter of PVC, after the shale boom led to a surge in petrochemical production in recent years.
