How Sustainable Plastics gathers and reports polymer prices

The polymer price data supplied by Sustainable Plastics is gathered through a combination of primary research involving telephone calls to a panel of senior sales managers at polymer producers and senior buyers at plastics processors. Secondary information, including polymer producers’ price announcements, is also gathered in the run-up to each monthly 2-3-day polymer price determining period.

All given prices are average gross Western European contract-based prices from the indicated period without any rebates and discounts. Standard thermoplastics prices are based on single purchases in 20 tonne shipments. Standard recycled thermoplastics prices are based on standard grades used in Western Europe, with purchase volumes of 1 tonne and above.

A price range is determined for each polymer grade for the respective period based on various factors including volume, grades and specifications used. A reference price used to produce the price charts and is based on an arithmetic mean of the price range.

The data is gathered during a 2-3-day period at a different time each month depending on the production schedule for the magazine. As such the price data represents a best estimate of an average price range for specified polymer grades at a particular point in time for each month.

Quite often the price data stated for the previous month may have to be amended, particularly when price data is gathered either early or towards the middle of the month. This is because many larger plastics processors tend to buy polymer later in the month. Polymer producers may also decide to offload stocks at discount prices later in the month, depending on their stock position and market sentiment. Such practices can often shift prices later in the month. Our polymer price charts are updated to reflect these changes.

David Platt has been producing polymer price features for European Plastics News since 2005 and for Sustainable Plastics since its launch in 2020.