Caprolactam (Capro) and Nylon 6 (PA6) continue to soften in the Asia/China markets.

The price of prime Caprolactam continues to soften in the Asian market. Last week Capro was selling in China in the $3320/MT price range and falling. The USA Capro suppliers (Honeywell / BASF) are trying to maintain the price at $3500/MT for their material, but the China Capro producers are being much more aggressive in leading the Capro price reductions. Most of our Nylon 6 buyers (compounders and end users) have stopped buying resin, and are running their plants on lower cost old inventory that is in the warehouse. Any Capro or Nylon 6 (PA6) price increases at this time are being driven by the China traders/brokers on the supply side, because today’s price increases are not based on true demand. Most materials buyers feel these markets will continue to soften, and will stay out of the Capro and PA6 market as long as their old inventory will allow. Over the past week we have watched PA6 drop in price by about $.01 ($22/MT) per day, and it looks like this trend will continue in the short run.

The Nylon 66 (PA 66) market is also starting to show signs of price softening in China, but not to the same extent as the Capro and PA 6 price decreases. PA 66 is a much tighter market on the supply side, so it probably won’t see the weekly price decreases that are being seen in the PA 6 market. Most of our customers feel that all material prices have gotten out of hand, and they can no longer pass them on to the end product and consumers. I think that PA 66 prices will stabilize before the price of PA 6 due to a tighter supply of the material in the world market. I will not guess where either material, PA 66 or PA 6, is going to bottom out, but the current slowdown in the China market will definitely have its impact on both materials and continue to drive down prices in the short run.

We see material prices continue to head up in both the domestic and China Acrylic (PMMA) markets, which will not be helped by the recent flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Lucite has declared force majeure in the MMA market due to this recent flooding, because of their inability to move MMA monomer barges up both rivers to their customers due to the high water. I understand that the flooding has had a negative impact on the styrene monomer market, which has lead to Ineos declaring force majeure in the polystyrene market late last week. I am not sure if this is going to drive up material prices for PMMA or PS in the short run, because these should be temporary feedstock supply disruptions that will go away once the water level gets back to normal on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

The domestic ABS market appears to be sold out through June, and most of the USA suppliers are now taking orders for July. The crazy part is that you have to get your orders in now for July shipments, but the suppliers cannot tell the buyers where the price for material will be when they ship the car of ABS to the warehouse for packaging. It is basically order now, and you will be billed at the July market price that will be determined for ABS in mid-June.

When are the material price increases for plastic going to stop? Today it is any ones guess.

I think that most plastic materials have reached their peak in pricing, and should start to show signs of softening as we move into the summer months. The public warehouse that we use in Houston, TX, mainly loads export containers for Formosa Plastics, and they have not loaded a single export container of either PE or PP since the first of April. Olefin inventories are starting to back up in the Houston packaging warehouses, because the domestic producers have priced themselves out of the Asian export market. The ABS producers will start building excess inventories as well as we move into the summer months, because of the slow housing market and decreased demand from DWV pipe producers.

Here is where we pricing for the following materials the week of May 16, 2011. These are material buying prices for TL or larger quantities from the large plastic resellers / brokers.

ABS Wide-spec pellets (3 Melt / 3 Izod - low gloss) $1.20+/lb.

ABS Prime Pellets $1.35+/lb.

SAN Wide-spec pellets (w/black specs) $.90/lb.

SAN Wide-spec pellets (good color) $.96-.98//lb.

SAN Prime pellets $1.30+/lb.

PC/ABS Black Wide-spec pellets $.92-.95/lb.

PC/ABS Black reprocessed pellets $.82-.85/lb.

PP Homo Prime Railcars $1.14+/lb.

PP Homo Prime truck loads $1.25+/lb.

LDPE Wide-spec truck loads $.85-.90/lb.

LDPE Prime $1.10+/lb.

HDPE Blow Molding Grade $.80-.83/lb.

(Some brokers are still selling old inventory at) $.77-.79/lb.

HDPE Injection $.75-.77/lb.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon 66 (PA66) and Nylon 6 (PA6) materials for sale;

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Off-GradeTextile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Off-grade Pellets w/ up to .02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrind from Lump/Chunk

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV - Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Dualloy Sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer production waste.

PA6 Kettle Bottoms

PA6 Capro Residue

PA6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices

Dualloy purchases / sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged / Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide Specification, Off-grade Pellets

Clean uniform plastic regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

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

See us on Facebook at the following pages:

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd.

Nylon 66 Plastic Sales

Nylon 6 (PA 6) Plastic Sales

Nylon 66 Plastic Recycling Company

PVB Plastic Recycling – Polyvinyl Butyral

Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap Recycling

Talk about “March Madness” prime Caprolactam (CPL) reaches $3520-$3560/MT in China

The price of prime Caprolactam (CPL) is now trading above $3500/MT delivered in the Asian market. This is a historically high price for prime CPL that is being driven by Broker/Traders speculating on continued price increases for the product. The contract price for prime CPL settled in between $3520 - $3560/MT ($1.597-$1.615/lb.) for the month of March, 2011. We feel this price increase is still being driven in China by the Traders/Brokers, because we do not see enough demand in the Asian PA6 market to support the latest CPL price increase. Our big concern at this time is that we are starting to see the factories in China starting to slow down again, as they did in early 2008 before the correction that started in October of that year.

Another factor that is going to affect the Nylon 6 market in the short run is the disaster in Japan. Japan produces about 25% of the CPL that is sold in Taiwan, and 13-15% of the CPL that is sold in China. The plants in Japan are down at this time due to disruptions in the supply chain, a lack of power to run the plants, and delays in their transportation system. In the short run this means that prime CPL prices will most likely go up again in April, and may even reach the $3700/MT ($1.678/lb.) price level. This is not good news, because at some price point in time the manufacturers around the world will stop buying Nylon 6 until they start to see some price softening. The Japanese CPL supply disruption may only be a 60-90 day scenario, but it is going to have a drastic impact on the price of prime Nylon 6 in the short run.

At this point I do not see the price of Nylon 6 softening in Q2 2011 as I have previously mentioned. Based on the March contract price for CPL large buyers of prime Nylon 6 are now paying somewhere north of $1.50/lb. for material in the USA. It costs the average PA6 producer around $.08-$.10/lb. to polymerize the CPL and make pellets, so your guess is a good as mine as to where Nylon 6 prices will go in April / May if CPL increases to $3700/MT. We are actually buying all of the WS PA6 that we can at this time, because we think prices will only increase again in April due to the for mentioned crisis in Japan.

The Nylon 66 market still shows no signs of softening at this time as well. Both of the domestic PA66 producers are sold out, and material feedstock prices only seem to keep going up. The price of Butadiene has gone through the roof due to tight world supply, which may lead to another round of price increase in the secondary PA66 market. Get ready guys inflation is at our front door and starting to show its ugly face, which will only have a negative impact on our already fragile US economy.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market has started to stabilize somewhat in the USA, and scrap prices may actually stay flat for 30-60 days. Depending on what the price of Acetone does in the domestic market it will determine if we see the price of MMA / PMMA increase in the short run.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon (PA6) and Nylon 66 (PA 66 materials for sale:

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Pellets

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 Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Nylon 6 Nat w/HS– Wide spec (off-grade) Pellets

Low to medium viscosity, 5% monomer, heat stabilized. The material has moisture issues, and it might have a few black specs and bad cut pellets. The material is in unsealed poly liners.

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV - Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Dualloy sells the following types of low end Caprolactam / Nylon 6 waste.

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

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

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

Caprolactam reaches a new historically high selling price of $3330/MT in the China market

The Chinese Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) is now over, and most of the businessmen have returned back to work this week. Most of the factories in China are still closed for one more week, and will not start back up until after February 16^th. What will be interesting to see will be, when the factories actually start going back to work in China. This year we saw the factories closing 1-2 weeks early for the Spring Festival, and they started sending their employees home in late January. If the factories do not open back up next week, or ask the workers to come back to work soon, then this may be an indication that the Chinese economy is about to go through its own market correction.

The price of prime Caprolactam (CPL) is now trading above $3300/MT ($1.50/lb.) delivered in the Asian market. This is a historically high price for prime CPL that is being driven by Broker/Traders speculating on continued price increases for the product. The prime price of CPL is now over priced by at least $400-$450/MT, and should probably be selling more in the price range of $2800-$2850/MT in today’s market. This is why I started this blog discussing the current manufacturing climate in China. We see most of the factories in China fat with Nylon 6 inventory, which will allow them to stay out of the buying market until late February, or even early March. By the end of February most of the Traders/Brokers will be needing money, so they will start selling off their high priced CPL and Nylon 6 inventories to raise cash. The USA domestic suppliers of CPL and prime Nylon 6 resins have raised their prices to reflect the current world market conditions, but will be forced to come back to reality and lower their material prices, if the Chinese do not come back into the market by late February 2011. We expect to see Nylon 6 prices starting to soften by mid-March of this year. I would be cautious in taking a large inventory position on prime Nylon 6 in the first QTR 2011.

Several of the domestic Nylon 6 producers are selling their prime pellets at $1.40/lb. or higher for orders taken and shipped this month. Otherwise at this time it is in their advantage to flake the Caprolactam, and sell the prime CPL flake in the China market. Shaw and DSM are still priced under $1.40/lb. in the domestic market for prime Nylon 6 pellet sales shipped in February.

The Nylon 66 (PA 66) market on the other hand, continues to show signs of tightness in supply that will last until at least mid 2011. Both of the USA domestic Nylon 66 producers are in a sold out position, and are back to operating their polymer units at full capacity. Although both producers still have polymer lines idled since the slowdown in 2009, don’t expect to see an increase in domestic PA 66 capacity in the first half of this year. Rhodia is still having problems at their facility in Europe, and the Rhine River was closed for several weeks in January due to a sunken barge. Both of these factors have kept the Nylon 66 market tight in Europe, and allowed the producers to keep the material prices up in the world market. We expect to see Nylon 66 supply snug in the first half of 2011, and prices to stay at their current level or move up slightly higher. Dualloy experienced a $.02-$.03 price increase on the PA 66 wide specification and regrind materials that we purchased in January 2011 over our December 2010 material prices.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market continues to be strong in early 2011 as well. Like everything else, the price of PMMA scrap continues to increase. The latest price increase is currently being driven by the strong demand for Acetone in the Polypropylene (PP) market. As long as PP continues to sell at historic highs, expect the price of any Acetone based product to increase as well. Since you need acetone to make MMA, the backbone of Acrylic, I am sure there will be price increases announced for prime PMMA in the near future. Dualloy is currently paying over $.53/lb. in the domestic market for mixed color PMMA scrap for monomer extraction. This is the highest price that I have paid for PMMA scrap for monomer recovery since entering into the export business in 1995.

In my last blog posting I had stated wrong the price increase of $.15/lb. being announced by Ascend. Rhodia has announced a $.15/lb. price increase for prime Nylon, and I expect to see Ascend announce an increase for Nylon 66 as well. Ascend uses propylene in the PA 66 manufacturing process, and based on the recent price increases for polymer grade propylene their feedstock prices have had to increase. The recent propylene price increases have been so large, I am sure Ascend will have to pass some of the feedstock price increases on to their customers.

Announced Nylon 6 (PA 6) Price Increases:

Honeywell Jan 1^st $.10/lb.

Feb 1^st $.15/lb.

March 1^st $.08/lb.

BASF Feb 1^st $.08/lb.

Shaw Feb 1^st $.08/lb.

Nylon 66 Price Increase:

Rhodia Feb 1^st $.15/lb.

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste.

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Nylon 6 Washwater

Nylon 6 Washwater/Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

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 Nylon 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 Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV - Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

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

Nylon 66 and Nylon 6 prices are up in the 1st quarter of 2011

Nylon 66 (PA 66) and Nylon 6 (PA 6) prices are both up in January 2011. I think that we have reached another historic high in pricing for both products, and that both markets will remain strong through the first half of 2011. In China Caprolactam (CPL) is trading at over $3020/MT for January, while the contract price for prime CPL is in the $2940-$2960/MT range for the month. Most of the major USA PA 6 producers have announced price increases for February that will stick, as long as China comes back into the market strong after the Chinese New Year in early February. With the latest round of announced increases expect to see the price of prime Nylon 6 pellets move into the $1.40/lb. range and above for large volume buyers. The main factors driving these current increases are that the demand for both tire cord, and drawn fiber have continued to be strong in China. The Nylon 6 price will soften sometime in early 2011, because the price of CPL should be selling somewhere around $2600/MT. The current market condition is partially due to traders speculating on continued price increases in the CPL market.

The Nylon 66 market continues to be strong as well in early 2011. 2010 was a year of continuous price increases in the cost of wide-specification Nylon 66 pellets and fibers, and I think 2011 will be another year of strong demand and higher prices for the material. Both of the domestic PA 66 producers are increasing their capacity this year, but don’t look for the increased volume to cause a drop in price. Both producers are in a sold out position for the first half of 2011, so there will not be any excess capacity in this market until after mid-2011 at the earliest. Ascend has announced a $15/lb. price increase for prime PA 66, so I am sure that we will see Invista follow suit and increase their PA 66 prices as well.

I think that you will see the price of wide-specification PA 66 pellets increase as much as the price of prime pellets. Both of the domestic PA 66 producers are using more of their own scrap back into internal added valued compounding programs, which is removing large volumes of both good wide- specification pellets and baled fibers out of the secondary market. This will tighten the supply of wide- specification pellets in the USA domestic market, which will narrow the gap between the price of prime Nylon 66 and wide specification Nylon 66 pellets this year. Expect to see the price of Nylon 66 to remain firm (or higher) in the first half of 2011.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market continues to be strong in early 2011 as well. Like everything else, the price of PMMA scrap continues to increase. The latest price increase is currently being driven by the strong demand for Acetone in the Polypropylene (PP) market. As long as PP continues to sell at historic highs, expect the price of any Acetone based product to increase as well. Since you need acetone to make MMA, the backbone of Acrylic, I am sure there will be price increases announced for prime PMMA in the near future. Dualloy is currently paying over $.53/lb. in the domestic market for mixed color PMMA scrap for monomer extraction. This is the highest price that I have paid for PMMA scrap for monomer recovery since entering into the export business in 1995.

Announced Nylon 6 Price Increases:
Honeywell Jan 1st $.10/lb.
Feb 1st $.15/lb.
Marc 1st $.08/lb.
BASF Feb 1st $.08/lb.
Shaw Feb 1st $.08/lb.

Nylon 66 Price Increase:
Ascend Feb 1st $.15/lb.

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste.
Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms
Nylon 6 Depoly Residue
Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste
Nylon 6 Washwater
Nylon 6 Washwater/Oligomer Waste
Call for MOQ and current material prices.

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 Nylon 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 Regrinds
Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

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

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

Chinaplas 2010 – China is back and rolling ahead at full speed!

I have just gotten back from traveling in China for the past 7 days, and took the time to go to Chinaplas 2010 on Tuesday, 4/20, while passing through Shanghai. All I can say is “What a show” to say the least. The show seemed very busy to me, and the news reported a 17% increase in attendance over last year. Every “Big Name” in plastics from around the world had a booth at the show, from polymer manufacturers, color / additive companies, equipment manufactures, and anything else that has to do with handling or processing plastics was represented at the show. They may not show at the NPE anymore, but they all took the time to be at Chinaplas 2010. The overall economy in China is good, with both domestic sales and export sales on the rise. Most of the manufacturers are concerned, because wages are increasing everywhere, as their market continues to develop and mature. But I am sure, that once the domestic manufacturers realize the increase in higher margin domestic sales offsets any decrease in export sales they experience, China will accept the higher wages they are paying.

The Chinese have new wealth in cash, and enjoy spending their money. Japan is currently the # 1 buyer of luxury goods in the world, and it won’t be long before the Chinese secures the position as the # 1 buyer’s of luxury goods in the world. If you want to sell something to the Chinese I would suggest selling them expensive luxury goods. Cars, watches, purses, you name it, if it is high end, flashy, and “Cool in the West” the Chinese want to own at least one. The down side to all of this is that, it is not cheap (inexpensive) any more to travel and eat in China’s big cities. All prices are up in China at this time, so expect to pay more for hotels and dining out if you are traveling in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. You can still find some great deals in China, but they tend to be farther in land, and outside of the large developing urban areas. Staying at a nice hotel in one of the large cities costs about the same a staying in a hotel and eating out in Houston.

Nylon 6 and Nylon 66 prices were up again in April due to continued demand and tight supply of material around the world. Our moldering and compounding customers in China are busy trying to fill their backlog of orders from 2009. The increase in export business, coupled with the increase in domestic business most companies are enjoying, is leading to strong demand and tight supply of Nylon 66 resins and fiber scrap. Dualloy is currently in a sold out position on all of the Nylon 66 and Nylon 6 second quality pellets, regrinds, and fiber bales that we purchase. Our demand in China for material is great, and we just cannot get enough material to keep all of our good customers happy.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market is very difficult for us to deal in at this time. The sale price in South China for low end monomer extraction scrap is around USD$1100-$1120/MT CFR HK, and we definitely cannot make this price work in today’s market. All of the major USA PMMA producers have their scrap priced over the $.50/lb., so buying PMMA scrap and exporting it to China is very difficult to say the least. We have been buying material to maintain our relationship with the producers, and to keep the material supply door open for when the acrylic scrap market turns around.

Dualloy sells the following types of plastic resins and polymers.
Nylon 66 – PA 66 Wide Specification Pellets, Baled Fibers, Regrinds
Nylon 6 – PA6 Prime Pellets, wide specification pellets, plant scrap
ABS, SAN, GPPS Wide Specification Pellets, GPPS / SAN Devol Pellets
SBS, SEBS, SIBS Second Quality Pellets, Aged/Obsolete Inventory
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 Nylon 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 Baled Fibers
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 Un-pelletized 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

Dualloy sells the following types of Acrylic (PMMA) scrap.
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