Thanks to the shale drilling boom of recent years, natural gas prices remain low, while the U.S. chemicals industry is benefiting from all time low feedstock prices. This has reversed the fortunes of manufacturing in the way few ever imagined, at a break neck pace. The U.S. has become globally competitive, seemingly overnight, shifting the plastics industry to export, where finished goods are then produced. Long term, U.S. manufacturing regains a competitive advantage by sourcing its own plastic locally and more cost effectively vs importing.
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