March was another pretty decent sales month for Germany’s PET recyclers. Mark-ups of €70-100 per tonne were often feasible for clear flakes amidst solid demand. Bottle producers were the primary source of demand, as the peak beverage season is just around the corner. Film producers had been buying more cautiously, while sales to fibre and packaging strapping companies had been weak, recyclers and merchants told EUWID.
April also looks set to usher in another round of price increases, according to market participants. Nonetheless, they are seeing first indications that business was slowing down again. Converters had already said that they were again buying virgin material, for cost reasons. Unlike flakes, primary PET prices were stagnating. What’s more, recyclers noted, there was added pressure from cheap virgin PET imports from Asia.
There had been a significant price gap between flakes and primary PET in months past, but it has now almost entirely vanished. Recyclers are still typically taking a cautious approach to buying. Companies had turned down high-priced offers for bottles from Eastern Europe because these costs could not be passed on to customers. The fact that the underlying supply of post-consumer bottles was still decent in Germany also lent a helping hand.
With the UEFA Euro 2024 football championships set to kick off in Germany in June, recyclers are optimistic that the beverage industry will enjoy a significant uptick in sales. Contacts anticipate that, later this year, more bottle makers will also start preparing for new EU rules requiring that single-use beverage bottles have a minimum of 25 per cent recycled content from 2025 onwards.
Read the full monthly market report on single-use post-consumer PET bottles from deposit systems in Germany and access price change tables and graphing tools here:
