Standard recyclate prices in Western Europe trended further down in November. Pure polyethylene grades were under pressure from the unexpectedly significant decline in virgin material prices.
Unfortunately, no improvement is in sight. There are simply no stimuli that could contribute to stabilising prices. Quite the contrary, as the year drew to a close, many processors were trying to reduce their inventories as much as possible for balance-sheet reasons. This will have further limited order activity, and a price pressure on recyclates continued. Several recyclers were considering stopping production around the turn of the year, which would have been quite unusual.