R-PET Prices Soaring Globally owing to greater consumption of Recycled Plastics

R-PET, Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate, is a recycled commodity constituted from R-PET flakes and is being used widely in different downstream industries. The global market for R-PET witnessed a price surge in the last few weeks on the back of strong demand and rising crude oil prices. A significant need for R-PET comes from the packaging industry. The automotive and construction sectors are another few segments contributing heavily to the demand for R-PET. The automotive industries have developed new and advanced technologies to sort and recycle plastics from end-of-life vehicles (ELV) to cater to the overall potential of R-PET. R-PET is used in the construction sector to enhance the durability and strength of building materials. As the Constructions are growing worldwide, so is the demand for R-PET.

The rising awareness among consumers about single-use plastics and plastic wastes overflowing the landfills also influences big companies to incorporate recycled plastics into their processes. Several companies have adopted the sustainable approach and made commitments regarding the same, further supporting the demand for R-PET. Furthermore, the government officials of various countries have enforced rules to reduce plastic wastage and to start assimilating recycled plastics instead of single-use plastics into the processes. In addition, companies have begun relying more on recycled plastics to cut down their carbon footprints.

Moreover, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has fuelled the crude oil prices, which has impacted the production cost of R-PET, consequently raising its market price. Enhanced prices of shipping containers have also supported the price hike of R-PET across the globe. Besides, the lack of virgin Polyethylene and Polypropylene in the market soared the demand for R-PET, eventually leading to its higher market value. Altogether, robust demand from several end-use industries to meet their sustainability goal and enhanced upstream cost pushed the R-PET prices upwards.

According to Chemanalyst, “The prices of R-PET would keep surging in the upcoming weeks owing to strong demand from packaging, automotive, and construction sectors. At the same time, soared production cost due to growing crude oil prices would also result in the escalating R-PET prices.”