Recently, a colleague sighed: The price of polyester bottles is often lower than that of polyester slices. Then everyone sighed at the miserable present of the bottle and missed the glorious past. In addition, some bottle slice factories have recently switched to the production of slices, so the author added recycled 3A white bottle slices to compare and review the price gap in the past five years.

The full name of bottle-grade polyester slices. Compared with general polyester slices, there are mainly more tackifying links, and more IPA and DEG are required, so the raw material cost of bottle slices will be slightly higher than that of polyester slices. In terms of finished product prices, bottle slices are generally higher than slices in the past few years. 3A white tablets are high-quality recycled bottles, and the price is higher in recycled PET.

Comparison of the price of polyester bottle slices and slices

Chart 1: Price trend of polyester bottle slices and slices and 3A white slices

The prices of bottle slices and slices are affected by upstream polyester raw materials PTA and MEG. The trends of the two are basically the same. According to the price trends of the two, the past five years can be initially divided into three stages.

The first stage is from early 2020 to October 2020.

In 2020, affected by the new coronavirus, major production and operation activities in various countries were "suspended", so crude oil prices fell sharply, Brent crude oil futures fell to around 20 yuan, and WTI crude oil futures even showed negative oil prices. In this case, the prices of light slices and native bottle slices fell sharply. At the beginning of the year, the price difference between bottle slices and slices was small, and the price of bottle slices was about 100-300 yuan higher than the slices. During the plunge, the price drop of bottle slices was relatively small, thus widening the price difference. Therefore, bottle slices from April to October 2020 The difference between the slices is about 500-800 yuan.

The second phase is from November 2020 to September 2022.

The vaccine was successfully developed in November 2020, the new coronavirus was under control, and market confidence recovered slightly; in early 2021, as the United States adopted a loose monetary policy, commodities around the world soared, and Brent crude oil continued to rise, starting in 2022. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine also caused crude oil prices to continue to rise. In this context, the prices of bottle slices and slices rose from the bottom and reached a high point. The price difference expanded rapidly at the end of September 21, and then lasted for one year to September 22, mostly between 800 and 1,800 yuan.

The third phase is from September 2022 to the present.

Crude oil prices fell, economic recovery was lower than expected, and bottled pieces supply increased rapidly. During this period, the price difference between the two is in a stage where the price of slices is constantly narrowing and even the price of slices exceeds that of the bottle. From October 22 to May 23, the price difference can remain between 300 and 700 yuan. From June 23 to June 24, the price difference between the two could only remain around 100-200 yuan. From early July 2024 to the present, the price difference between the two is basically between -100 and 100 yuan. The price of bottle slices is often lower than that of slices.

Comparison of the price of polyester bottles and 3A white sheets

Compared with bottle slices and slices, the price of recycled 3A white bottle slices is less affected by crude oil, so the price fluctuation is smaller. In the past five years, except for the extreme situations in the third and fourth quarters of 2020, the price of 3A white films has fluctuated between 6,500 and 7,500 yuan. As far as the price spread trend is concerned, it can also be divided into three stages.

January 2020-March 2020. At this time, the price difference continued to widen, and the price difference between the bottle tablet and the 3A white tablet gradually widened from around -450 yuan to -1,850 yuan.

The price difference reversal from March 2020 to August 2022. During this period, the upstream polyester raw materials for bottles have increased. In addition, the supply and demand structure of bottles themselves is good, and the processing costs themselves have also soared. The 3A white tablets range from around 1,800 yuan higher than the bottle tablets to gradually reach around 2,100 yuan below the bottle tablets.

September 2022-February 2025. The price difference between bottle tablets and 3A white tablets fluctuated and fell from 1,850 yuan to between -200 and -300 yuan. In the fourth quarter of 2022, the market already had expectations of oversupply, while in 2023 and 24 years, it was two years when the excess pressure was actually felt. In addition, crude oil fell from a high level, and Brent crude oil fell from around US$120/barrel to around US$75/barrel. . The price of bottle pieces fell from a high level, causing the price of 3A white pieces to passively exceed. 3