The Iran war turned around the downturn of the American plastic industry.

About two weeks after the outbreak of the Iran war, Jim Fitterling, CEO of Dow Chemical, made rare comments to investors about one of the company's most important products. He said, "We see prices rising across the board." He was referring to polyethylene, a plastic used to produce detergent bottles, food packaging, and many other goods. Fitterling stated that after raising the commodity's North American prices by 10 cents in March, Dow Chemical would raise it by another 15 cents per pound in April. Six days later, the company announced that prices for April would actually be raised by 30 cents. Due to oversupply and weakening demand, polyethylene had been in a slump since the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Iran war almost overnight changed the situation. Dow Chemical's stock price reflected the improvement in its situation. Since 2022, the company's stock price had been steadily declining, with dividends being cut in half last year. But since the beginning of this year, its stock price had risen by 77%, far outperforming the S&P 500 index. Similar market trends were seen in LyondellBasell, another chemical company, whose stock price had risen by 84% year-to-date after two years of decline. The company's CFO, Augustine Iskander, recently told investors that one of their "sleeping giants" products - polypropylene - was having its moment in the sun. Polypropylene is a plastic extracted from propane and is widely used in everything from food containers to automobile components.