PET bottle prices rise 40% in 2021 across Asia

Increasing demand and feedstock cost support have kept the Asian PET bottle market mostly on a net uptrend this year. China’s export and domestic PET bottle prices as well as Southeast Asia’s import PET prices have risen by about 40% over the past one year, ChemOrbis Prise Wizard shows.

According to traders, the increase in demand for food and beverage products across the globe provided a significant boost to the demand for PET bottles, jars and other food carriers. “A heightened demand for PET bottles from the packaging of hand sanitizers to fight the COVID-19 pandemic also served as a bullish factor,” said a trader in Southeast Asia.



China exports large volumes of PET to regional and global markets. ChemOrbis StatsWizard shows its export volumes rising by about 3.5% in the 10-month period till October, 2021, to 2.42mn tons, compared to 2.37mn tons in full-year 2020.

China is also a large consumer market for PET, shaped largely by its bottled water industry. Domestic PET bottle prices have also risen by 42% over the year.

Demand has thus been a major theme in the PET market this year but support has also come from rising prices of both MEG and PTA feedstocks during the year.



MEG prices rose from $510/ton towards the close of last year to $625/ton, on CFR China basis — an increase of about 23%. PTA, on the other hand, rose by about 35%, over the same time period, to $650/ton, CFR China. Both feedstocks have tracked a 47% rise in Brent crude’s price to around $75/barrel.