Anyone in the kynar (paint) or architectural metal business?

I heard this yesterday...

"We were talking with (redacted, doesn't matter) yesterday and Kynar finish on exterior curtainwall is going away because you can't get the ingredients anymore.

Apparently one of the main ingredients is used to make electric car batteries and battery manufacturers are paying 3x what the architectural metal guys are... so the entire inventory is now heading the battery plants.
 

So it is not a case of when will we get our paint - it is a case of never because the battery industry will use the entire inventory.

.....Anybody heard the same?  

I have not heard that. Oh, boy.

Wow, if that's the case that's a big aw E36 M3.  Kynar is the specified coating on almost every exterior louver we install.   2nd to Duke's Oh Boy!

In reply to 11GTCS :

Not to mention nearly all metal roofing, gutters and trim, non-anodized storefronts and windows, etc etc etc...

I used to sell architectural metal (and am still friends with the GM of a huge national metal company), and yes, there is a shortage. Kynar is the trade name for PVDF, which is a plastic coating made with fluorite the mineral. The vast majority of fluorite is mined in, you guessed it, China, who has been putting the squeeze on the market for years. The coating is used for a zillion different industrial uses, and one of the largest and fastest growing is in manufacturing lithium-ion batteries. It's not electric cars eating up this demand though, it's the small device batteries (think about how many cell phones, tablets, laptops, and other wireless devices you own and times that by every household). 

On top of that some pigments have been very hard to obtain as of late, especially certain blues, so there are some colors that will be just gone. 

In reply to Duke :

Which is what our louvers are typically colored to match.  Add this to the list of things not making any of our collective jobs any easier.  Literally everything is a PITA to deal with at the moment.

So I should put my thoughts of a metal roof on hold for a couple years?

11GTCS said:

In reply to Duke :

Which is what our louvers are typically colored to match.  Add this to the list of things not making any of our collective jobs any easier.  Literally everything is a PITA to deal with at the moment.

Yep. I couldn't agree more. 

In reply to RevRico :

The longer you wait, the more expensive it's going to be.

RevRico said:

So I should put my thoughts of a metal roof on hold for a couple years?

I like the look of galvanized...

I talked to a contact in the aluminum curtainwall industry today to get more info. He clarified that it (whatever the ingredient) is not being used for the batteries but for the battery enclosures. Kynar is highly corrosion inhibitive and that is a property that is in high demand.... alternatives are anodized, acrylics, powder coatings - none of which have near the track record and longevity or finish warranty. 
 

Definitely sucks. 

Not in the same line of work, but it makes me worry about the availability of Kynar lined pipe and fittings for chemical lines in my bleach plant. 

This is potentially yucky 

akamcfly said:

Not in the same line of work, but it makes me worry about the availability of Kynar lined pipe and fittings for chemical lines in my bleach plant. 

This is potentially yucky 

Potentially a good time to "buy ahead" if you use it regularly and this stuff is stocked anywhere.  

That's going to suck. I have at least one door quoted with a painted finish. This should drive pricing even farther through the roof. 

Looks like I will be specifying color galv a bit more now. 

fluorite the mineral should be the name of a band