Please note, this is the last market report for 2023. Our next report will be on 5 January 2024. Thank you to everyone who has supported the report with market data and information this year.
This week was all about anticipating the winding down of the market next week for a couple of weeks over Christmas.
Some were still trying to shift material, some were trying to lead the market even, while others were doing little and thinking about a Christmas break.
Certainly for OCC, there was some movement in price. While many were also taking advantage of the December transitional market for PRNs/PERNs and the uplift in prices seen for some grades (our price is now the December transitional price). In particular, this helped to push up some plastic packaging grades.
The pound was trading at $1.27 this week from $1.25 a week ago. It was unchanged at €1.16 though.
Recycled plastics
There wasn’t a lot of activity in the market and hasn’t been for much of December. Trading is generally quiet and most are now thinking about some time off to recharge themselves after a difficult year.
However, the PRN/PERN increased in value by around £35 per tonne for transitional trading, so many were seeing what they could do in that market.
This helped to push up the price of packaging grades, although no changes were seen in underlying values.
Although there was no change in price, there are some indications that there might be a bit more demand coming into the market after Christmas for some grades helped by the rise in the PRN/PERN, but that will only become clearer in the New Year.
Recycled paper
OCC was the centre of attention this week again with one or two deep sea traders trying to snap up material and paying above £100 per tonne for it.
However, most of the market was not as interested, and settled a bit below this. It also remained the case that there wasn’t a lot of material around.
The period over Christmas is expected to be quiet, especially as a number of UK and European mills are taking downtime over the period. However, it will be interesting to see after the Christmas break whether these mills come back actively looking for material, or whether these current low demand pattern continues.
Other grades were relatively stable, but SOW and Multi seem to have very few outlets in particular at the moment and those with material are struggling to find a home for it.
Recycled metals
Copper increased by £75 per tonne this week, but no change was recorded for any other grades.
Recycling prices
For recycled paper prices, click here
For recycled plastic prices, click here
For recycled metal prices, click here
For recycled glass prices, click here
For PRN/PERN prices, click here
