Recycled Polymers - Europe November 2018

Month: November 2018
	€/ton	€/ton
Recycled Grades	Min	Max
R-PET Flakes Clear/Blue	900	1055
R-PET Flakes Mixed Colours	640	680
R- HDPE Black Corrugated Pipes (PCR*)	770	940
R- HDPE Black Pipes (PIR**)	1000	1060
R- LDPE Black Film (PCR*)	600	650
R- LDPE Film (PIR**)	950	1000
R- homo-PP black injection(PIR**)	860	930
R- homo-PP injection (PIR**)	950	990
R- PPBC injection (PIR**)	850	1050

* (post-consumer recycle)
** (post-industrial recycle)

The R-PET markets in Italy and Northwest Europe followed divergent trends in November for another month. The R-PET market in Italy continued to follow a downward trend, with huge decreases with respect to the past month. The market in Northwest Europe, on the contrary, witnessed a stable to slightly firmer trend in line with healthy demand. The R-PET range in Italy was reported at €920-970/ton for clear grade on FD basis, while prices for R-PET light blue grade were reported at €900-950/ton with the same terms. As for R-PET mixed colors flakes, prices were reported lower month over month in Italy at €640-680/ton FD Italy. R-PET prices for clear grade in Northwest Europe were reported at €1030-1055/ton FD. Prices in Italy posted decreases of up to €100/ton on the heels of comfortable supply and calm demand. A recycler commented, “We had to apply notable reductions as post-consumer bottle prices have decreased remarkably this month. Plus, we feel the downward pressure from prime PET market. Our demand has been weaker this month with respect to the previous ones, but we are rather satisfied considering that this is the low season for R-PET.” Expectations for next month are calling for a stable to softer trend, although it will depend on the prices of post-consumer bottles. According to some players, prices may start to stabilize next month to see a reversal of the trend starting from January. In Northwest Europe, a couple of converters reported to have paid stable prices or small increases of €5/ton over October. A converter in Belgium said, “We think that prices should start to decrease next month as prices are rather high at the moment, while virgin PET continues to post decreases.”

Prices in the R-HDPE market saw a stable to softer path this month, with players commenting that the market is balanced. A recycler said, “Our demand remained healthy this month. However, prices in prime HDPE market are very low nowadays and this has an impact on our business. We hope to see a rebound in HDPE prices, otherwise this will continue to weight on R-HDPE market.” A pipe producer confirmed to have paid stable to softer prices this month, while lamented a weaker demand with respect to last month. The buyer commented, “Our end-product demand has been calmer this month also due to the heavy rains that slowed down activities in the construction sector.” Expectations for December are for a similar trend as it will be a short month in terms of trading activities and the majority of the companies will close their production in the third week of the month.

After several months of stability, prices in the R-LDPE market witnessed decreases of up to €50/ton this month. According to players, comfortable supply and weak demand, in line with seasonality, contributed to push prices down. A recycler said, “We are registering a good demand from other markets outside Europe while demand in Italy is really calm nowadays. Plus, supply in the country is ample and we noticed that a lot of material is arriving from Central Europe at very low prices, although the quality is inferior with respect to our material.” As for next month, players expect a stable to softer trend in line with the end of the year.

The R-PP market, meanwhile, remained stable for another month. Both buyers and sellers reported a more than balanced market, with ample supply and good demand. A recycler commented, “We kept our prices unchanged but we noticed a healthy demand this month, above our expectations for this period of the year. As for December, we aim to deplete our stocks although we will try to avoid any reductions in prices.” The outlook for December is mainly stable.

Price ranges reported include an average freight cost to the customers’ location as well as duties if applicable, although VAT is not included.