Besides the increase in steel prices the automotive industry is now having to cope with an increase in prices of important plastics.
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Prices of polyamides, used in airbag housings, for example, and polypropylene, used to make bumpers, increased 30% in 2004, according to the German association that represents the plastics processing industry, reported Automobilwoche.
Raw material prices are an important aspect of current price negotiations between automotive tiers. Mann + Hummel is quoted as an example of a company trying to pass on higher costs to the OEMs.
VDA President Bernd Gottschalk is concerned that a number of price concerns are coming together at a time when there is little room to manoeuvre.
