Prices for PET bottle resin took a 2-cent fall in June, surprising market watchers.
Bottle-grade resin typically maintains higher prices in the summer, when demand for bottled water and carbonated soft drinks — two major PET end markets — is high.
But PET prices had taken surprising price drops of 3 cents in May and 1 cent in April as well. Regional PET prices now are down a net of 4 cents per pound since Jan. 1.
North American PET remains oversupplied, sources said, even as demand from the beverage market has picked up with North America moving into warmer summer months. Operating rates for paraxylene and MEG feedstocks remain low, sources said, making it difficult for producers to increase prices.