Grades of paper such as OCC and ONP have fallen on this week’s scrap-ex price report but most other materials are stable.
OCC has dropped to £80 to £90 per tonne this week compared to last week’s £95 to £105. OIN is down to £105 to £115 from £115 to £125 a week ago, and news and pams have fallen to £100 to £110 from £110 to £120 last week. Mixed papers have sunk to £90 to £105 from £105 to £110 last week.
The reason behind these falls in prices is believed to be a market correction due to falling export demand from Chinese, other Far Eastern and European buyers. This fall in demand is because of what has been perceived as a slowdown in the global economy.
However, this week’s deal to solve the eurozone crisis, rumours that China intends to loosen monetary policy towards the end of this year, and positive US economic data has brought optimism to the broader commodity complex. For example, the S&P GSCI index of 24 commodities was up 3.04 per cent yesterday.
Plastics have eased down a touch this week.
Natural PET bottles were down to £360 to £390 from £365 to £400 last week. However, this week has also seen the price of cotton pick up from below $98 at the beginning of the week to over $105 dollars today. As a result, PET prices should also pick up as long as demand remains, because of the correlation between PET and cotton due to both being used as material for clothing.
HDPE milk bottles eased down to £365 to £405 from £370 to £410 a week ago. Mixed bottles scrap-ex grade A were at £235 to £265 from £240 to £280 last week.
LDPE 98/2 moved down to £260 to £295 from £265 to £300.
The optimism that is beginning to permeate global commodity markets can be seen in metals. Copper dry bright increased to £4,450 to £4,700 from £4,350 to £4,600 a week ago reflecting gains seen on the LME.
Aluminium cuttings were up to £1,100 to £1,450 from £1,050 to £1,350 a week ago. However, lead scrap fell to £1,050 to £1,250 from £1,125 to £1,250 last week.
Ferrous was little changed, but grade OA increased slightly at the upper end to £265 to £325 from £265 to £330 last week.
