Editor's Note
This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind “Even Getting Supplies at High Prices is a Relief”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.
From PVC wallpaper to interior materials, and from vinyl packaging to chemical stores, Seoul's Bangsan Market, home to over a thousand shops, is seeing prices for most products—primarily made from naphtha-based petrochemicals—skyrocket since the Iran war, with no end in sight.
In particular, the prices of solvents like acetone, thinner, and paint diluents are rising daily, having more than doubled.
“Many items have increased by almost 100%, effectively doubling. If I buy one drum of a product today and barely manage to get one, the unit price will be different again tomorrow. So the prices are doubling.”
Lee Jang-su, Chemical Product Wholesale/Retail Merchant
The situation is the same for PVC, which is made from synthetic resin.
Amid an already gloomy construction economy, merchants are reluctant to raise prices arbitrarily for fear of losing customers and are consequently taking losses.
“(The average increase rate) seems to be between 15% and 20%. And this isn’t the end. It will rise further. For now, we’ll just serve the customers at the current price this time, and apply the increased price when they come next…”
Baek Jong-hoon, PVC Sheet Wholesale/Retail Merchant
On top of this, along with rising oil prices and freight transport costs, and amid a high exchange rate in the 1,500 won range, prices for wood, aluminum, and iron products have also jumped by 30%.
Because of this, merchants confided that the situation is more difficult than during the past foreign exchange crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic.
The problem is that even being able to obtain goods to sell at high prices is considered fortunate.
Due to the naphtha supply shortage, procuring products is like picking stars from the sky, and it's expected that remaining inventory will run out within this month.
“Even putting aside the price increases, if the raw fabric itself isn’t supplied, (we) can’t produce. (Inventory) is about 15 to 20 days’ worth. Since the raw fabric is in an empty state, we can’t process or do anything, even if orders come in.”
Kim Yong-ho, Vinyl/Packaging Material Wholesale/Retail Merchant
The supply shortage has worsened as petrochemical companies have shut down or entered maintenance periods for some factories due to the naphtha supply crisis.
Furthermore, concerns are growing that if the Iran war prolongs, the crisis could spread across our entire industry.
YTN Park Ki-wan.
Source: Read the original article | Published: April 09, 2026