PET recyclate and post-consumer deposit-bearing PET bottles became more expensive again in May. Although the warmer weather led to higher arisings, there was no noticeable easing of the market tension. Well-supplied recyclers were reticent to purchase on the spot market, but companies experiencing supply problems had no choice but to dig deeper into their pockets to buy post-consumer bottles in May.
The market is "crazy", said one supplier, pointing to the outcome of recent tender by a food retailer for a share of the volumes of PET single-use deposit-bearing bottles.
According to recyclers, the prices for flakes and regranulate are already too high for buyers from the films and fibres segments. Pricy bottle inputs have almost completely eliminated demand for recyclate in these sectors, EUWID was told. Producers of films are buying very little and fibre companies have "given up entirely,” said one recycler. And even for beverage filling companies, prices seem to have reached the upper limit....
