Prime virgin prices are from China’s major virgin polymer websites in Renminbi RMB. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar= Chinese Yen at 6.6946.
Crude oil prices rose in New York Friday to $104.79 before closing. Still, they headed a weekly loss as traders were concerned about a potential recession-driven demand downturn despite global supplies remaining tight.
Prime resins in China have experienced one of the worst markets in recent years. Due to pandemic lockdowns, tight liquidity, and disappointing seasonal factors, China is still under a heavy strain from manufacturing goods demand. Most materials have been on a downtrend for a couple of months. Notably, Polycarbonate has slid to the US $2200 per ton resulting from Bisphenol A price decline, and Nylon 66 prices have dropped to the US $3500 per ton due to start-up production of PA 66 in China.
Recycled materials are bearish, reflecting the downtrend of prime prices. With China’s low-level economic activities, demand for all recycled materials is declining daily. Recycled natural LDPE pellets sell at $1080 per ton, PP at 980, PC at 1800, PMMA at 1600, Nylon at 2230, and black ABS at 1220. Some of these recycled pellet prices are only half of Europe and the US prices. Most market traders do not expect any market improvement until the year’s fourth quarter.
Asian recyclers will have to face challenges. With the plastic price gap between China and the western world, primarily the US and Europe, getting wider, scrap materials are becoming more difficult to buy. LDPE natural film grade A sells for over $700 per ton in Europe and the UK, and most engineering plastic grades do not match purchase prices from Asian buyers; fewer materials are being exported nowadays. Adding to the challenges, Hong Kong’s environmental protection department has recently stepped up the import requirements of plastic waste and the export ban of plastic waste from Australia. These measures have taken out quantities of plastic scraps from the market.