Regional PET bottle resin prices took a surprising 5-cent drop in January as buyers right-sized their inventories.
Prices for the material had dropped a total of 7 cents from October to December. Regional PET prices finished 2023 down a net of 4 cents per pound.
PET demand was lower than expected in 2023, even during the warmer summer months. Bottled water — the largest beverage segment in the U.S. and a major consumer of PET — continues to grow, but has slowed in recent years, according to a recent report from the Beverage Marketing Corp. consulting firm.
Plastics News' Jim Johnson writes that at a recent industry conference, BMC Managing Director Gary Hemphill told attendees the bottled water category grew by 0.5 percent in 2023, according to preliminary data. That's down from a 1.1 percent growth rate in 2022 and much higher growth rates ranging from 3.7 percent to 6.1 percent annually from 2017 to 2021.
Higher prices and the segment's "mammoth size contributed to its modest growth," Hemphill said.
Hemphill's bottled water category includes a half-dozen different sizes and is dominated by the single-serving size that's typically 16.9 ounces or a half-liter in size. "It's one of those situations as single-serve PET [container] segment goes, so goes the category to a great extent," he said.