Nylon Filament Yarn

Asian Textile Business, May 2006

Price-Hike of 30 Yen in April

Even for nylon filament yarn, Toray Industries, Inc. announced to increase its prices by 30 yen/kg from April shipments. Since a large part of nylon for apparel applications is under Toray's control, Toray's movement is a decisive factor affecting the whole industry.

According to the Japan Chemical Fibers Association, the NFY production moved favorably for industrial applications such as airbags and tire cords, despite the poor performance in apparel applications. Producers' stocks will also continue at around 12,000 tons.

As far as apparel applications are concerned, the expansion of sales in the innerwear sector (including accessories) is supporting apparel applications. At Toray, innerwear accounts for nearly 50% of apparel NFY.

The prices of caprolactam have been rising from the US$700/ton level at the beginning of 2002. Asian quotations were bearish in the second half of 2005, but are now at around US$2,000 after turning upward at the start of this year.

In the case of nylon-66, airbags continue to be buoyant, but one of the challenging tasks is price increases to offset the rising prices of raw materials and fuel.