Plastics prices have increased across all film and bottle grades in April.
As one industry source noted: “prices have come up a lot in April. There is good demand for material due to increases in oil prices and fears of shortages in virgin material, offering much-needed price support.”
This has been linked to the crisis is the Middle East, which has pushed up oil prices and in turn the price of virgin plastics, boosting demand for recycled material.
The conflict has also disrupted the supply of cheap virgin polymer into the Europe which was previously undermining the UK market.
Another market stakeholder said: “Prices have all increased a lot because of high virgin polymer prices. This is good because historically prices have been very low.
“We have been competing with imports of cheaper material which seems to be stopping.”
Price support continues to be provided by the plastics PRN, which has dropped slightly but still remains just shy of £300/t.
An industry source confirmed: “Prices are also being supported by the PRN, although PRN prices have fallen from around £350 last month to around £280/t at present.”
In the case of PET, demand has also risen as is typical for this time of year, as the UK moves into the spring and summer and plastics drinks bottle usage increases.
Another market participant added: “The market has become more buoyant due to the time of year, with typically higher demand for grades such as PET as we head into the warmer months.”
Meanwhile, those in the sector have reported continuing strong prices for HDPE, driven by demand from the US and Europe.
Despite this, the market remains challenging for UK reprocessors who continue to be impacted by the economic climate and remain restricted in their ability to pass cost increases onto retailers.
View our more detailed plastics price index here.
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