Prime Nylon 6 Resin Prices to increase February 1, 2010

The two largest North American (NA) Nylon 6 (PA 6) producers have announced February 1, 2010 price increases for their prime grades of material. Honeywell increased their price for prime PA6 resin by $.10/lb. on January 1, 2010, and they have announced another $.14/lb. price increase effective February 1st. BASF had raised their prime Nylon 6 resin prices back on December 1, 2009, and they as well have announced a February 1st material price increase of $.12/lb. The NA prime PA-6 resin market has seen a material price increase of around $.22-$.24/lb. since December 2009. All of the recent Nylon resin price increases have been attributed to the constant increase in the price of Benzene. In the last year Benzene has increased in price from just over $1.00/gallon to its current level around $3.50/gallon plus. Dualloy expects to see the prices of non-prime wide specification Nylon 6 pellets, fibers and scrap to increase in line with the prime resin. At this time most of the major polymer producers are trying to pass along the same $.12-$.14/lb. price increases into their secondary materials market. We feel the February 1st price increase for Nylon 6 prime resin will easily drive the price of non prime Nylon 6 pellets to a level above $1.00/lb.

Expect to see continued increases in the price of non prime Nylon 66 (PA 66) in the coming months as well. PA-66 continues to be in tight supply around the world, which has helped to drive the prices up in this market over the past several months. PA66 feedstocks have been tight for at least the past 3-4 months, which has also added to the current tightness of finished Nylon 66 resin. So between slow but steady increase in demand for finished resin and fibers, tight supply of intermediaries, and the continued increase in the price of Benzene, we expect to see the prices of non prime Nylon 66 resin, fibers, and scrap continue to rise in the first quarter of 2010.

Here are the other material price increases that we are seeing for January 2010.
Polyethylene - PE $.07/lb. Price Increase announced for Jan. 2010
Polypropylene - PP $.03/lb. Price Increase announced for Jan. 2010.
(Looks like $.03/lb. will stick.)
Polystyrene – PS $.10/lb. Price Increase announced for Jan. 2010.
Expect to see this increase stick ($.05/lb. Jan 1st, $.05/lb. Jan 15th)
ABS, SAN $.07/lb. Price Increase announced for Jan. 2010.

Dualloy sells the following types of plastic resin / polymers.
Nylon 66 – PA 66
Nylon 6 – PA6
Acrylic – PMMA
ABS, SAN, GPPS Devol
SBS, SEBS, SIBS
TPU, TPR, TPE

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.
Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets
Wide-Specification Pellets
Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds
Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties
Nylon Fiber Bales

Dualloy has the following PMMA materials available for sale:
Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets
Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets
Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets
Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2
Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind
Nylon 66 Bright / Semi Dull / Dull Fiber Bales

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV - Natural
Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Nylon 6 Wide Spec Chips – High Residual Monomer
Mixed Grades / Mixed RV’s 2.4 – 5.0
May have up to 10% residual monomer
Will contain pellets with TiO2
May have blue/green HS pellets present

Nylon 6 Unpelletized Chopped Strands – High Residual Monomer
Mixed Grades / Mixed RV’s 2.4 – 5.0
May have up to 10%-12% residual monomer
Will contain pellets with TiO2

Prime ABS Natural Pellets
3.5 Melt / 4 Izod - Low Gloss

ABS Natural Wide Specification Pellets
4 Melt / 7 Izod - High Gloss

ABS Black Pellets
5 Melt / 4 Izod

Prime SAN Pellets
8 Melt Crystone

SAN Devol Pellets
Blue Color

GPPS Devol Pellets
Mixed Color for Black

Acrylic PMMA - Clear / White (segregated) lumps / chunks for crackback
Acrylic PMMA - Q1 / Q2 Clear / White / Green Extruded Sheet
Acrylic PMMA - Clear / White extruded sheet trim scrap

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com