Why is the open market for food-grade rPET in Iberia smaller than the bottle market suggests?

Because the biggest preform and tray groups in Spain and Portugal have installed their own bottle-to-bottle lines and feed them with their own flake. Their pellet never reaches the market. What is left is bought by preform plants whose captive output is short of their target, by brand owners who inject their own preforms and receive resin by tanker, and by sheet extruders making food trays. Those buyers take regular truckloads, not spot parcels, and they qualify a new source with a trial lot before a contract.

What does a Spanish buyer need from the seller before the price matters?

The Union register numbers for the recycler, its facility and the authorised process under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616, a recycled-content certificate from an accredited body, and a recent certificate of analysis showing IV, acetaldehyde, colour and moisture. The certificate is not paperwork for its own sake: Spain's plastic packaging tax charges EUR 0.45 per kilogram of non-recycled plastic in preforms, sheet and packaging, and the recycled share comes off the taxable base only when an accredited body certifies it. A pellet without that certificate is taxed as virgin.

How big is the PET resin trade in Spain and Portugal?

In 2025 Portugal imported 209,925 t of PET in primary forms under HS 390761, 61% of it from Spain, and Spain exported 218,595 t and imported 116,918 t of the same code. The code covers virgin and recycled PET together, so it shows the scale of the resin trade the rPET share sits inside, not the rPET volume itself. The two countries trade heavily with each other, which is why the delivery unit is a silo truck, not a container.

In what form and lot size are food-grade rPET pellets delivered in Iberia?

By silo truck into the plant's resin silo for regular programmes, or in octabins of about one tonne and big bags for smaller lots and trials, on FCA or delivered terms by road. Pellets are polymer in primary form under HS 3907, so no waste shipment paperwork applies. Buyers usually take one truckload as a trial on the same specification and certificate set as the programme.

Europe · Spain and Portugal

Food-Grade rPET Pellet Suppliers in Spain and Portugal

A truck market where the big converters make their own pellet, and the open tonnes go to the plants that cannot

Iberia is one polymer market, not two. In 2025 Portugal declared 209,925 t of HS 390761 imports, PET in primary forms with a viscosity number of 78 ml/g or more, and 128,078 t of it (61%) came from Spain; Viet Nam (33,182 t), Lithuania (26,825 t) and Türkiye (6,014 t) followed. Spain itself exported 218,595 t of the same code in 2025, of which 84,237 t went to Portugal and 68,641 t to France, and imported 116,918 t, led by Türkiye (34,608 t), Viet Nam (18,718 t), Algeria (11,376 t) and Lithuania (9,573 t). HS 390761 covers virgin and recycled PET together, so these figures give the size of the resin trade, not the rPET share of it. Demand for food-grade rPET sits with three groups: preform and bottle makers, brand owners who inject their own preforms, and sheet and film extruders making food trays. Most of the large Iberian converters now run their own bottle-to-bottle lines, so open-market pellet goes to the gaps: preform plants short of their own recycled supply, brands injecting in-house, and tray extruders working toward a recycled-content figure. Two rules set the value of a certified tonne. Directive (EU) 2019/904 requires 25% recycled plastic in PET beverage bottles from 2025 and 30% in all plastic beverage bottles from 2030. Spain's special tax on non-reusable plastic packaging charges EUR 0.45 per kilogram of non-recycled plastic, its scope includes semi-finished products such as preforms and thermoplastic sheet, and the recycled share is excluded from the taxable base only when it is certified by a duly accredited body. A Spanish packer therefore buys the certificate with the pellet.

The first thing an Iberian buyer checks is the seller's entry in the Union register under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616: the recycling operator, facility and installation numbers and the authorised process, because in the EU a mechanical PET recycling process must be authorised after EFSA's evaluation before its output may touch food. The second is an accredited recycled-content certificate, which is what the Spanish tax deduction rests on. The third is a certificate of analysis per lot showing intrinsic viscosity, acetaldehyde, colour and moisture, and then a trial lot on the buyer's own line. CBIL brokers food-grade rPET pellets from authorised recyclers in Portugal, Spain and the rest of the EU, for delivery by silo truck to a preform or sheet plant, or in octabins and big bags for smaller lots, on FCA and delivered terms inside Iberia. Excluded origins are not offered. A requirement that names the plant, the delivery point, the target IV and colour limits, the monthly tonnage and the certificate set the buyer needs gets an offer from a specific recycler; one without them gets a question first.

The market in figures

Portugal imports, HS 390761, 2025: 209,925 t · Spain 61% · Viet Nam 16% · Lithuania 13% (virgin and recycled together)
Spain exports / imports, HS 390761, 2025: 218,595 t out (Portugal 84,237 t, France 68,641 t) · 116,918 t in (Türkiye, Viet Nam, Algeria, Lithuania)
Recycled-content rule: Directive (EU) 2019/904: 25% in PET beverage bottles from 2025, 30% in all plastic beverage bottles from 2030
Spanish plastic packaging tax: EUR 0.45/kg of non-recycled plastic; preforms and sheet in scope; recycled share excluded only with an accredited certificate
Delivery: Silo truck, octabins or big bags by road inside Iberia; Union register numbers under Reg. (EU) 2022/1616 checked first

Official trade data; sources listed below. Landed values are the importing country's declared CIF, not CBIL prices.

Questions buyers ask

Why is the open market for food-grade rPET in Iberia smaller than the bottle market suggests?: Because the biggest preform and tray groups in Spain and Portugal have installed their own bottle-to-bottle lines and feed them with their own flake. Their pellet never reaches the market. What is left is bought by preform plants whose captive output is short of their target, by brand owners who inject their own preforms and receive resin by tanker, and by sheet extruders making food trays. Those buyers take regular truckloads, not spot parcels, and they qualify a new source with a trial lot before a contract.
What does a Spanish buyer need from the seller before the price matters?: The Union register numbers for the recycler, its facility and the authorised process under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616, a recycled-content certificate from an accredited body, and a recent certificate of analysis showing IV, acetaldehyde, colour and moisture. The certificate is not paperwork for its own sake: Spain's plastic packaging tax charges EUR 0.45 per kilogram of non-recycled plastic in preforms, sheet and packaging, and the recycled share comes off the taxable base only when an accredited body certifies it. A pellet without that certificate is taxed as virgin.
How big is the PET resin trade in Spain and Portugal?: In 2025 Portugal imported 209,925 t of PET in primary forms under HS 390761, 61% of it from Spain, and Spain exported 218,595 t and imported 116,918 t of the same code. The code covers virgin and recycled PET together, so it shows the scale of the resin trade the rPET share sits inside, not the rPET volume itself. The two countries trade heavily with each other, which is why the delivery unit is a silo truck, not a container.
In what form and lot size are food-grade rPET pellets delivered in Iberia?: By silo truck into the plant's resin silo for regular programmes, or in octabins of about one tonne and big bags for smaller lots and trials, on FCA or delivered terms by road. Pellets are polymer in primary form under HS 3907, so no waste shipment paperwork applies. Buyers usually take one truckload as a trial on the same specification and certificate set as the programme.

Sources

UN Comtrade public preview API, reporter Portugal (620), HS 390761, imports, 2025, read 27 Sep 2026: world 209,925 t; Spain 128,078 t; Viet Nam 33,182 t; Lithuania 26,825 t; Türkiye 6,014 t. 2024 (no world row; sum of declared partners): 154,941 t.
UN Comtrade public preview API, reporter Spain (724), HS 390761, exports, 2025: world 218,595 t; Portugal 84,237 t; France 68,641 t; Italy 18,904 t (2024: 236,413 t). Imports, 2025 (no world row; sum of declared partners): 116,918 t; Türkiye 34,608 t; Viet Nam 18,718 t; Algeria 11,376 t; Lithuania 9,573 t (2024: 108,960 t). HS 390761 covers virgin and recycled PET together.
European Commission, single-use plastics page (environment.ec.europa.eu, read 27 Sep 2026): Directive (EU) 2019/904, 25% recycled plastic in PET beverage bottles from 2025 and 30% in all plastic beverage bottles from 2030.
Agencia Tributaria, impuesto especial sobre envases de plástico no reutilizables, base imponible y tipo (sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es, read 27 Sep 2026): EUR 0.45 per kilogram of non-recycled plastic; the recycled quantity must be 'certificada por entidad debidamente acreditada'. Scope page (ámbito objetivo, read 26 Sep 2026): semi-finished products such as preforms and thermoplastic sheet are in scope.
European Commission, food contact materials, plastic recycling (food.ec.europa.eu, read 27 Sep 2026): Regulation (EU) 2022/1616; Union register with RON, RFN, RIN and RAN numbers; mechanical PET recycling processes must be authorised after EFSA evaluation before use.
Market structure (captive bottle-to-bottle lines at the large converters; open-market pellet to preform, brand and sheet plants): desk research on Iberian converters, 25-26 Sep 2026, from the companies' own published pages; none is a CBIL counterparty.