OFF ITS PEAK
While secondary plastics are still enjoying healthy demand, pricing for post-consumer resins continues to decline, while post-industrial material remains steady.
"The market is still good; there is a lot of material being traded," a Texas-based reclaimer says. "Prices are moving all over the place, but the market in general is very good."
The reclaimer goes on to say that post-consumer HDPE has gone down 12 to 13 cents during the last couple of months, with post-consumer PET having fallen by as much as 8 cents per pound. "The post-consumer side is taking a beating," he says, adding that the big buyers are tired of working with such small margins.
"The prices shot really high, especially on HDPE, and now they have softened and come down to a more realistic level," a Toronto recycler says. "End markets still can’t get enough supply, so prices will come back up sooner than later."
Another recycler based in Ontario says that pricing for natural and colored HDPE is down $200 to $300 per ton from where it was three months ago. He adds that colored HDPE is selling in the neighborhood of 18 cents per pound, down from highs in the low 30s, while natural HDPE is selling for about 32 cents per pound, down from the low 40s. PET, which was fetching prices in the high 20s, is now getting 13 cents per pound.
"Pricing has declined, but it’s not difficult to move the materials," he says. "There are a lot of tons out there right now. Most of the end users are fairly full. The Chinese market is in the same boat," the Ontario-based recycler says. "They never turn loads down, though."
Engineering grades are faring better, with pricing for most secondary resins stable and generation remaining steady. The Texas-based reclaimer says polycarbonate is up 5 cents to 7 cents per pound. "It’s tough to find that in the market."
Post-industrial HDPE, which is holding steady, is also performing better than its post-consumer counterpart. "There is not enough material out there, so the buyers haven’t lowered the price because they still need more material," he says.
(Additional news about plastics recycling markets is available at www.RecyclingToday.com.)
CHINA’S HUNGER
China’s demand for plastic scrap will continue to increase, according to a speaker at the BIR Plastics Committee meeting during the organization’s May conference in Beijing.
David Wong of CB Holdings, Hong Kong, said that China imported more than 8 million metric tons of plastic scrap and recycled plastics in 2005, roughly half of which came from the EU, while nearly 3 million metric tons came from the United States. He told convention attendees that demand for such plastics "will become bigger and bigger."
However, Wong said "serious" problems confront traders and buyers, who must take responsibility for quality control. Plastic scrap is supposed to pass pre-shipment CCIC (China Certification and Inspection Co. Inc.) control procedures, which does not include a full inspection of the material’s physical properties. "The trader and merchant are taking care of this issue," Wong said.
China is not the only part of the world experiencing robust demand for plastic scrap.
In his review of the Indian market, Surendra Borad of Belgium-based Gemini Corp. NV noted that 20 of the 30 Indian companies permitted to import plastic scrap had obtained three-month license extensions, while the remaining companies had secured longer license periods. However, he said that scrap imports from the United States fell "substantially."
Plastic production increased 14 percent in India in 2005, outpacing the country’s economic growth rate of nearly 8 percent. According to Peter Daalder of Daly Plastics BV in the Netherlands, nearly one-third of India’s plastics are made from re-processed materials.
Explore the July 2006 Issue
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