By and large, September was a successful month for Germany’s PET recyclers. They managed to keep selling prices for flakes at the level seen in previous months amid decent demand. At the same time, the prices they paid to buy post-consumer beverage bottles decreased slightly again.
That being said, flake prices were coming under growing pressure as virgin PET became cheaper. Converters were pushing for price cuts. Compounding matters, flake converters did not want to have large amounts on stock at their warehouse towards the year’s end, market participants told EUWID.
The industry is also worried about cost-cutting measures unveiled by Germany’s largest beverage filler. Coca-Cola intends to stop manufacturing at its Cologne site next spring and close additional logistics locations in Germany. In total, these plans will lead to the loss of around 500 jobs. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) said that the planned changes were needed to make production more cost-effective in a market experiencing persistently strong competition.
On a positive note, market players were upbeat about arisings of post-consumer PET beverage bottles in September. One respondent said that no supply problems had occurred because the month had more warm days than normal despite rainy weather. Even contract customers had enquired about the possibility of recyclers buying additional amounts, contacts said.
Decent supply of post-consumer bottles paved the way for another round of price cuts on the spot market for post-consumer bottles, which recyclers were able to use to their benefit. Respondents had mixed views about how much prices had fallen in September.
Read the full monthly report on the German market for post-consumer single-use PET bottles and access price change charts and graphing tools here:
