Nylon Price Forecast In Asia - December 2012

Current spot prices for benzene suggest that prices will remain in the range of US$1,300-1,400 a ton until February 2013, but market fundamentals imply prices will remain closer to US$1,100 a ton mark. In December benzene markets in Asia may end up as market participants will seek prompt cargoes to cover immediate needs in the first half of the month. However, month- end will see some decline due to weaker buying sentiment due to holidays.

After falling for two consecutive months, caprolactum prices in Asian region will not have strength to go down further. It must be noted that the low prices were offered by traders, and not producers, the the buyers were typically industrial filament makers who have lower quality requirements than most other caprolactum buyers.

Demand from nylon chip will remain stable as they had inventory levels equivalent to 10 days’ end of November. Polyamide chip makers too were running at around 70-75% which will continue for some time. Operations in filament yarn markets will also emain stable, with industrial yarn producers running at around 60-65% capacity, nylon textile yarn makers at 90%.

There are certain positive spots for nylon business in December. As winter rapidly approaches Chinese consumer by more quilted coats and jackets, and nylon is still preferred outer layer particularly the current fashion is for extreme lightweight garment. All the new nylon capacity in China asyet had little impact on pricing. And this position is not change until overall volume come up.