Türkiye’s recycled markets record significant hikes amid bullish virgin prices

In Türkiye’s recycled markets, January price levels for four products witnessed some increases in line with the bullish virgin markets. The growing tension over the Red Sea turmoil along with the scarcity of import virgin offers in Türkiye supported the recycling channel this month.

R-PET hikes outshine other products

The logistic disruption sent local PET bottle prices to new highs in January. Local sellers continued to apply increases encouraged by the shipment delays for import cargos emanating from the Red Sea turmoil which also gave momentum to the recycled market.

Apart from the gradual hikes in virgin PET bottle markets, higher bale prices also put upward pressure on the recyclers. However, some players believe these increases in freight rates and their reflections on prices will be temporary. According to a recycler, “Our eyes will remain on the duration of the turmoil. If it’s sustained, we will continue to see further hikes for next month.” Export activities in the market also became more vivid in January. “We applied further hikes compared to last month,” he added.

Eyes to stay on demand situation in February

Apart from the R-PET, sentiment in R-LDPE, R-HDPE and R-PP markets turned more bullish on the back of rising virgin prices. Prices record significant increases as a knee-jerk reaction to the shipping bottleneck across the board. Although recyclers applied visible hikes on their offers, they admitted that demand was not strong enough, which limited the size of hikes.

A recycler said, “We applied some increases to our prices in line with the rising virgin market. However, demand failed to catch up. Despite the supply crunch that puts upward pressure on the virgin market, sluggish demand kept players on their toes. We will closely monitor how logistic snarls will evolve in the coming term.”

A brief look at European recycled markets

R-PET market in the nearby Europe followed a similar path as players reported visible hikes in both flake and pellet markets. However, other products moved sideways unlike the bullish scene in Türkiye as the markets remained calm amid limited orders after the holiday period.

Accordingly, sellers in European R-HDPE, R-LDPE and R-PP markets kept their offers stable in January. “We decided to keep our offers stable from last month. We are in the process of deciding whether to apply increases next month in line with expectations of large hikes in the prime market,” opined a global recycler.