Expana to launch two US spirit glass bottle indices and five UK Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) prices

Following a period of market feedback, Expana will launch two monthly Expana Benchmark Prices (EBP) for the US glass markets and five monthly EBPs for the UK packaging markets. Expana will launch these new monthly assessments on 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 proposed specifications for the assessments will be as below:  

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 will reflect the transactable value at 16:00:00 London time. 

The assessments for the US indices will 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 will bring transparency to a highly traded, but opaque market. The assessments will complement Expana’s existing container glass coverage and will 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 will bring transparency across several packaging material categories. 

The US index assessments will 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 will be 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 will be rounded to $1.74, and $1.755 will be rounded to $1.76. 

If you have any feedback or suggestions on this market note, please send them to [email protected] and clearly state which market note your comments relate to, and if comments are intended for publication by Expana.  

Expana will acknowledge receipt of all comments by email.