Page 55 - Plastics News Issue June 2025
P. 55
BUSINESS NEWS
Bale pricing bucks seasonal
trend, trade alliances shift
oreign trade partners see risk as well as PET – consumer spending
opportunity amid tariff-related chaos,
Fmarket sources said. | Alones/Shutter- Since January, average PET bale pricing has
stock stayed within a 16-17 cent range, according to
analysis by Plastics Recycling Update using Re-
This story has been corrected. cyclingMarkets.Net data. A year ago, prices rose
by 32% – nearly 4 cents a pound – between
Post-consumer plastics bales are defying typical January and May, and continued to rise through
springtime trends, with average pricing in May September.
reported flat-to-softer on the month as the peak
summer season nears. Chris Goger, senior director of recycling at bro-
kerage BlackBridge Recycling, described May
Although still slightly higher on the year, aver- PET bale demand as steady, despite softening
age PET bale pricing for May eased, while color prices.
HDPE bales dropped by 55% on the month and
HDPE natural bales lost 13%, according to Recy- Consumption of both virgin and recycled PET
cling Markets.Net data. closely correlates with consumer spending,
which increased in two of the three months the
Post-consumer bale prices typically start firm- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis has reported
ing in mid- to late March, as PET buyers stock so far. However, consumer confidence reached
up ahead of the peak summer beverage bottling a 13-year low in April, according to the Confer-
season and color HDPE buyers accumulate ma- ence Board, a bipartisan think tank that tracks
terial to make agricultural drainage pipe. Espe- sentiment monthly.
cially for PET, the uptick in prices tends to last
until June or even July, when bale demand be- This is despite a better-than-expected jobs re-
gins to taper and supply increases. port for April as well as an unexpected drop in
the Producer Price Index and a slowing inflation
Natural HDPE tends to be less seasonal, see- rate.
ing steady demand throughout the year due
to its versatility, though pricing is prone to ris- The ongoing tariff back-and-forth is driving
ing swiftly and then crashing as the market per- uncertainty, as well as an initial rush of import
haps corrects itself about every other year. This activity ahead of what could be long-term im-
year, macroeconomic influences are particularly plementation. The busiest U.S. container port,
pronounced, with the PET and HDPE markets Los Angeles, reported an increase of 6.2% in
subject to different drivers but seeing similarly container volumes compared to the first four
dampened demand. months of 2024. But “moving forward — at least
June 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 55
