To our Valued Customers,
As you are already aware, our industry is among many challenged by the current and future restrictions on the availability of antimony metals. Prices of antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) have escalated since Q3 2024 because of mining capacity controlled predominantly by Chinese owners. This is important to wire and cable producers because Sb2O3 is critical for flame retardant properties in many UL-approved wire and cable compounds. As a result, US domestic compounder producers started raising prices during the second half of last year. Our suppliers are confident they have secured enough long-term supply of this material. However, it has come at a cost.
At the beginning of 2025, with little or no notice to us, our primary PVC supplier enacted a monthly antimony surcharge on the price of compounds. Year to date, Sequel has experienced a $0.31 per pound increase in the cost of our compounds, equivalent to an approximate 25% increase in the cost of compound: $0.06 for January 2025, $0.10 for February 2025, and $0.15 for March 2025. We obviously waited to take any action to try to better understand the comprehensive impact this issue would have on the compound market, and it is now very evident. This increase is volatile but substantial and, unfortunately, not short-term.
Therefore, we have concluded that the most efficient and transparent method to deal with this raw material anomaly is to create a surcharge on our products. The surcharge will appear as a separate column on your price sheet, which will be added to your standard price. It will fluctuate up or down monthly just as our increases/ decreases do by our compound supplier.
We will attach a letter from our supplier to each month’s surcharge change to support the surcharge adjustment. We will also attach a table showing the surcharge amount by product, which will be in effect for purchase orders received on or after March 3, 2025, and will remain in effect until the cost of the supply situation is permanently resolved. We are working diligently with our suppliers to find a long-term, stable solution. Until then, we have no option but to pass this increased cost onto the market.
As always, thank you for your understanding, and please let us know if you have any questions.