Plastic companies became popular American stock picks while packaging consumer goods companies performed the worst.

In addition to oil companies, plastic producers have recently become the safest investment target in the stock market. This trading logic is similar to the logic that drove up the stock prices of American fertilizer companies. Investors expect that competitors reliant on imports will face pressure from rising costs of oil and gas processing by-products, while American companies are expected to raise prices at the same time. Naphtha, ethane, and propane are the basic raw materials for plastic production. At the same time, natural gas prices in the United States have remained stable, and local oil prices are lower than international levels, which is expected to keep their raw material costs relatively stable and thus achieve higher profit margins. Shares of LyondellBasell Industries rose 40% in March, second only to Houston oil company APA, ranking second in the S&P 500 index; Dow Chemical rose 33%, ranking fourth. Dow Chemical informed customers this week that it plans to double the price increase announced earlier for polyethylene from 15 cents per pound to 30 cents per pound. Polyethylene is used in the production of bottles, plastic bags, pipes, textiles, etc., with the company raising prices by 10 cents per pound in March. Analysts say that all types of companies will bear the pressure of this price increase and may pass on the cost to consumers. Packaging consumer goods companies are particularly impacted, performing poorly in the stock market recently.