AOC says the following price increases will be effective for all shipments on or after 30 January 2010:

• for all unsaturated polyester and vinyl ester resins shipped from European plants, the increase will be €140/tonne;
• for products shipped from Thailand and Vietnam plants for Asian customers, the increase for polyester resins is US$0.12/kg and for vinyl ester resins is US$0.19/kg.

According to AOC, headquartered in Collierville, Tennessee, USA, the drivers for this price increase include rising energy and feedstock prices that have resulted in high raw material price increases. The company says natural gas prices have steadily increased as the bitterly cold weather continues, while crude oil prices have made a steep change and are now trading at US$80 per barrel. This trend of increases is forecast to continue throughout the first quarter of 2010.