Recycling prices and market commentary: 3 February 2023

February 3, 2023

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It was another week of waiting to see as the market doesn’t seem to want to start 2023, even though we are now in February.

There was stasis in both the paper and plastic markets with low demand and low supply meaning that traders were waiting for somebody to make a move in the PRN/PERN market.

With a lot of uncertainty around, those who have been trading are being steady and generally sticking to current prices.

Most grades generally were priced the same last week, but there was some movement for one or two.

The pound was down a little against the dollar to $1.22 from $1.23 last week, but dropped to €1.11 from €1.13 compared to the euro.

Recycled plastic

There is generally market equilibrium at the moment with low supply and low demand typically matching each other for all grades.

UK, European and Turkish buying demand is all quiet, but there isn’t a lot of material being collected either.

In some ways, the market didn’t want to move after the big fall in the price of the PRN/PERN last week in case it changed again dramatically this week.

But the effect of this drop was to prolong the uncertainty as we move into February. Many in the market don’t feel they know which way the wind is blowing currently.

Recycled paper

Although most trading seemed to be done last week for February, those OCC orders going through this week were up a little.

There was some deep sea interest and a little domestic, but nothing really from Europe again.

Like with plastics, there wasn’t much motivation to move in the OCC market due to people wanting to see what would occur with the PRN/PERN in the coming weeks, especially as we are now fully into the 2023 compliance year.

Other grades didn’t see any changes this week.

Recycled metals

Copper dropped by £150 per tonne, and brass was down by £100 per tonne. However, ferrous grades increased by £10 per tonne.