Certain packaging grades saw small price increases this week on the back of slightly more demand or changes in the value of the PRN/PERN.
But it wasn’t a case of big changes, but small, subtle alterations in price that in all honesty, don’t really given an indication that the market direction has changed.
With the latest Office for National Statistics data showing that retail sales dropped by 1.2% in June following a 2.9% rise in May, this suggests the lower arisings seen in recent weeks was reflected through less stuff being bought. Cooler weather seemed to be the main reason for the drop in shopping activity in June. Demand from Asia and Europe is also a bit weaker too.
There will be some hope though that improving weather will bring people out to spend some money over the coming days and arisings will improve. Material is still being reported as hard to get hold of.
The pound was down a cent against both the dollar and euro at $1.29 and €1.18 respectively.
Recycled plastics
Material continues to be hard to get hold of at the moment but this doesn’t seem to be leading to higher prices as supply and demand seems to be quite balanced.
However, for packaging grades, the PRN/PERN seeming to have hit the bottom for now, and rising by £5 per tonne this week, led to an increase in these grades by the same amount.
Last week the falling PRN/PERN had held back some spot trading as people waited to see where it would go. But the small increase helped some trade to come back on stream.
If the improved weather brings out more shoppers and people looking to enjoy the outdoors in the UK, then there could be more availability of film grades and PET bottles over the coming weeks.
Recycled paper
While buying patterns for most end markets was largely stable this week, and at similar prices to last week, there was still some good domestic prices out there that helped to push up OCC and mixed paper prices a little.
Recent weeks have also seen some improvement for grades such as multi, SOW and newspaper/magazine grades.
In particular, demand for tissue and graphic grades seems to be coming from domestic and European buyers with the price of virgin pulp having risen for them.
Recycled metals
Copper dropped by £250 per tonne, and brass by £50 per tonne, but everything else was unchanged.
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
