I am writing to share with our blog readers news of longer than normal lead times for the amino acid L-Arginine. Extended lead times are expected to last into Q2.

L-Arginine is used in the Biotech market, but it also has many applications in nutraceuticals, animal feed and food & beverage. Recently, increased demand for sensitive teeth formulations of toothpaste has caused the L-Arginine market to tighten. With this increased demand, we have heard reports of backorders lasting from Q2 2012 up to Q1 2013.

Lately, the Specialty Chemicals Market has been experiencing tightness in supply on a few key raw materials. Some of this tightness is due to the slump in the auto and construction industries, but recently, we have seen shortages caused by increased demand from the Oil & Gas market, specifically those materials that are used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Before working at Doe & Ingalls, I was a Buyer/Planner in Global Strategic Sourcing for a well-known pharmaceutical company. During my time in this role, I was very fortunate to have strong distribution and supply chain partners to help buffer my company from raw material issues that could negatively impact production.

For the last month, Doe & Ingalls has been closely monitoring conditions in the tightening Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) market. Market tightening has been driven by shortages in the technical grade HCl market.