Expana launches two US spirit glass bottle indices and five UK Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) prices
June 30, 2025
Expana has launched two monthly Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) for the US glass markets and five monthly EBPs for the UK packaging markets, as of Monday, June 30, 2025.
The initial proposal was announced in a market note published on Friday, May 23, 2025, which can be viewed here. The decision was communicated in a market announcement on Friday, June 13, 2025, which can be viewed here.
The specifications for the assessments are:
|
Assessment Name |
Code |
Quality |
Incoterm |
Quantity |
Currency |
Unit |
Publication Schedule |
|
Glass spirit bottle (750ml) Index US EBP |
GSBUS1 |
Glass spirit bottle | 750ml (340g) flint; 25% cullet; excluding moulds | Weighted Index for Glass Container Manufacturing Costs | United States | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
$ |
Mt |
Eastern Time, Monthly, Last Business Day |
|
Glass spirit bottle (1l) Index US EBP |
GSBUS2 |
Glass spirit bottle | 1l (460g) flint; 25% cullet; excluding moulds | Weighted Index for Glass Container Manufacturing Costs | United States | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
$ |
Mt |
Eastern Time, Monthly, Last Business Day |
|
Glass waste aggregate PRN UK EBP |
GAPRN |
Glass waste for aggregate | Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) | United Kingdom | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
£ |
Mt |
EMEA, Monthly, Last Business Day |
|
Glass waste re-melt PRN separate collection diff UK EBP |
GDIF |
Glass waste | Price Differential to Glass Waste Re-melt Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) | United Kingdom | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
£ |
Mt |
EMEA, Monthly, Last Business Day |
|
Plastic waste PRN UK EBP |
PPRN |
Plastic waste | Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) | United Kingdom | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
£ |
Mt |
EMEA, Monthly, Last Business Day |
|
Aluminium waste PRN UK EBP |
APRN |
Aluminium waste | Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) | United Kingdom | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
£ |
Mt |
EMEA, Monthly, Last Business Day |
|
Steel waste PRN UK EBP |
SPRN |
Steel waste | Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) | United Kingdom | Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) |
N/A |
N/A |
£ |
Mt |
EMEA, Monthly, Last Business Day |
The assessments and indices for the UK reflect the transactable value at 16:00:00 London time.
The assessments for the US indices reflect the transactable value at 16:00:00 Eastern time.
The US glass market accounts for around 10% of global glass production, highlighting the country’s significance in the world container glass industry, especially in the spirits industry, with US spirits exports totaling $2.4 billion in 2024. The use of glass in the US spirits industry increases sustainability, with cullet inclusion in batch materials rising to 30-40% from around 25% over the past decade. For every 10% more cullet included in the batch, energy use falls by 2-3% in the melting process.
Overall, container glass is widely used and highly sustainable, and the new assessments for US spirit bottles bring transparency to a highly traded, but opaque market. The assessments complement Expana’s existing container glass coverage and give Expana’s subscribers a comprehensive view of input costs for the US glass markets.
The Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) market is critically important for supporting recycling infrastructure within the UK, where members of the supply chain are obliged to buy and sell PRNs. Consequently, PRNs have a major impact on packaging prices in the UK and significant export markets, like Europe. The PRN market is a highly traded and volatile market, and the assessments bring transparency across several packaging material categories.
The US index assessments use a basket of underlying prices, based on a typical blend of costs for glass manufacturing to provide a reference price for the manufacturing cost of glass containers.
The US index assessments are rounded to the nearest Dollar cent using the rule that decimals of four (4) or less round down, and decimals of five (5) or above round up, e.g. $1.744 are rounded to $1.74, and $1.755 are rounded to $1.76.
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