Prime virgin prices are from China’s major virgin polymer websites in Renminbi RMB. The exchange rate is 1 US dollar= Chinese Yen at 6.7515.
New York crude prices closed at $94.70 after a long streak of weekly reversals on the pandemic economic outlook and risk of recession.
The Chinese government continues to practice the dynamic zero-case Covid policy. Prime prices slid further over the last few weeks as traders lost confidence in demand recovery before the end of the year. With the recent resurgence of Covid cases, China is putting all the effort and resources into containing the spread of the virus, even though there are only a few cases out of the 1.4 billion population. Prices of general plastics and engineering plastics extend losses as players are reluctant to purchase amid over supplies, seasonal factors, strong US dollar, fear of economic recovery, and global price corrections on resins.
Recycled material prices are dropping following downward adjustments in oil prices and prime resins. Notably, PC, POM, ABS, and LDPE recycled pellets have sold lower from $ 100 to $ 500 per ton over the last two weeks. Most recyclers have liquidity issues resulting from poor economic conditions and price slumps. As China’s property markets and infrastructure account for 25% to 30 % of GDP and are in crisis, the banking regulator instructs banks to open credit taps for developers to complete their unfinished resident projects. Hopefully, the new measure will improve related industries’ financial situations and supply chains.
Scrap plastic recyclers in Asia cannot take advantage of downward adjustments in global resin prices as domestic prices in Europe, US, and Mexico are either still strong or suppliers prefer to hold on with materials for a while, hoping that the market might have a turnaround soon. However, some suppliers choose to sell due to cash flow or gloomy economic recovery. Generally, the market is quiet during July and August; logistic situations and shipping freight rates from the US to Asia still have not improved. Fewer scrap materials are shipping to the Far East.