European Recycled Polypropylene Price Assessment

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• Players note strong levels of feedstock availability
• Industry announcement of further steps toward food grade material

Weak market conditions continued in the European recycled polypropylene market in the week to Nov. 22, with demand waning further ahead of seasonal downturn in the winter period.

Competitively-priced virgin polypropylene remains the critical pressure on the recycled industry, drawing consumer attention and limiting room for spot consumption of R-PP.

“No demand -- sharply reduced this year but the drop in appetite has accelerated after the summer for R-PP,” a recycler said, comparing the situation to adjacent markets by saying “there is some more stability on the other polymers”.

This week the demand has been exacerbated by wide availability of feedstock bale material across Europe, which has cemented oversupply and market length across the sector.

As such, prices slid further downward during the week, dropping Eur10/mt in both black and natural pellet markets to Eur740/mt and Eur1,600/mt, respectively.

Players noted general focus on contractual negotiations for 2024 in the current market, with buyers and sellers generally yet to conclude their agreements for material intake in the year ahead.

In industry news, French multi-national integrated energy and petroleum company TotalEnergies has developed an AI-powered plastic sorting project which facilitates the circularity of food-grade recycled polypropylene, according to a Nov. 21 press release.

The announcement represents a significant development for the European R-PP industry, with the wider facilitation of food-grade circularity seen as critical in establishing broader commoditization of the industry in the short-term future.

R-PET is currently the only commoditized food-grade recycled plastic market.

Platts assessed recycled polypropylene black pellet spot prices at Eur740/mt DDP Northwest Europe Nov. 22, unchanged on the day and down Eur10/mt on the week, below two recycler corroborations heard at Eur750/mt, considering feedback of weak demand and limited spot activity.

Natural pellet spot prices were assessed at Eur1,600/mt DDP NWE, unchanged on the day and down Eur10/mt on the week, below a recycler corroboration at Eur1,610/mt and a second recycler corroboration at Eur1,610-1,640/mt, considering feedback of market length while tracking the weekly change in black pellet pricing.

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