PET recyclers in Germany experienced growth in their sales volumes in February. Demand for flakes was very decent to good, with market players reporting price increases, too. "For the first time in a really long while, we have some room to breathe," one recycler commented. Like other operators, though, this respondent warned of overheating on the price front, pointing to the much higher purchasing prices being asked for bottles in Poland and Italy.
Another recycler told EUWID that margins were still razor-thin even though demand was good. One German PET recycler was reportedly in financial trouble.
Recyclers and merchants selling recycled materials reported significant variations in prices for post-consumer PET bottles in Europe, noting that direct comparison was almost impossible given the differences in material quality.
Price hikes had reportedly been much smaller in Germany than in several other countries. Insiders attributed the more modest rise in Germany to the significant inventories still held by some recyclers, good bottle arisings for the time of year, and Veolia’s decision to shutter its Rostock plant, which had eliminated more than 30,000 tonnes of annual bottle recycling capacity.
Another recycler told EUWID that everybody was taking a very cautious approach. Customers buying flakes had reportedly already remarked that they would scale back their purchase volumes and switch back to using cheap virgin PET if asking prices became too high.
Read the full market report on single-use post-consumer PET bottles from deposit systems in Germany and access price tables and graphing tools here:
