Ian Andrews, director for PRN trader looks at the previous week’s PRM activity, saying the warm weather and the World Cup might just lead to increased glass volumes being collected in the coming months…
It was heartening to see prices of Plastic drop this week, although there was little information available as to why this occurred. Given prices had increased for no reason, this price correction was merely following a similar trend.
This week’s increases (week end 22 June) were seen in Glass Remelt and Wood. In Glass, a lack of Aggregate supply has resulted in buyers’ attention switching to Remelt volumes to cover shortfalls, which resulted in a small uplift in value.
The Wood market followed the previous weeks pricing trend, continuing to increase in value. There have been some additional entries to the most recent Wood accreditation list; however, with the number of companies registering as small accreditations, it would appear an increase in volume will be minimal. All other materials remained within their previous reported price spreads.
It was comforting this week that the increased temperatures we have been benefiting from where not mirrored with further increases in PRN note values. Wood supply is expected to remain questionable for the rest of the year, but it is hoped the recent warm weather combined with the World Cup coverage will lead to increased glass volumes being collected in the coming months.
It is hoped this will ease the current upward pressure on Glass prices. It has been an interesting year for Paper with reported supply lower than in previous years, and although concerning, it is felt that a lack of available Spot tonnage has added to the upward price pressure.
With around 25% of supply forward contracted in 2017 at prices reflective of last year’s spreads, some believe sellers will have been eager to close these contracts early given the current price differential. It is believed this has contributed to the lack of supply in the first two quarters and facilitated this year’s price increases.
