Prices dip for PS, shuffle for recycled resins

North American prices for solid polystyrene resin decreased an average of 3 cents per pound in July, due in part to lower feedstock costs. Plastics News this week also is showing pricing changes for several recycled materials.

The 3-cent PS decline occurred as prices for benzene feedstock — used to make styrene monomer — dipped 15 cents to $2.84 per gallon. That move represents a 5 percent decline vs. benzene prices for June.

Regional PS prices had been flat in June after falling 4 cents per pound in May. Counting previous increases and decreases, PS prices now are down a net of 1 cent per pound since Jan. 1.

North American PS sales slumped 5.5 percent in the first half of 2018. A domestic sales loss of just over 6 percent was lessened by a 19 percent surge in export sales. PS sales to resellers and distributors grew almost 10 percent in that six-month period.

Plastics News this week also is showing pricing changes for several recycled materials. In PET bottle resin, average selling prices for clear, post-consumer pellets and flake both are up 5 cents per pound since April. Prices for green, post-consumer PET flake also are up 5 cents in the same time period. These materials have been in higher demand as manufacturers work to meet sustainability goals.

“Demand for [recycled PET] pellet from bottle and packaging manufacturers continues to rise due to call to increase recycled plastics in plastic bottles, other containers and packaging,” according to a recent report from the PetroChem Wire LLC consulting firm in Houston.

For recycled high density polyethylene, prices for multi-colored, post-consumer flake are down 5 cents per pound since April. In recycled polypropylene, prices for industrial flake are down 4 cents per pound in that same time period. Both moves are the result of decreased domestic demand and increased supplies resulting from lower exports of recycled material to Asia.

Plastics News also is correcting prices of some recycled materials to show changes that have occurred since early 2017. For recycled polystyrene, prices for high-heat flake are down 15 cents, while prices for industrial flake are down 10 cents. In recycled ABS, prices for mixed-color pellets are being corrected upward by 5 cents.