Caprolactam (CPL) / Nylon 6 (PA6) prices softening in March 2012 due to lack of orders from China

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd. - Plastic Scrap Recycling
Nylon 66 – PA66 Off-Grade / Wide Specification Pellets
Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com
See our webpage at:  Dualloy.com

The price of Caprolactam (Capro) in Asia has softened over the past 2 weeks due to slow (No) orders coming in from China for prime Nylon 6 (PA6) pellets.  The China economy is very slow at this time, and has many of the local manufacturers worried about what is going to happen in the short term.  The big companies should be able to make it through the downturn, but the little companies with limited cash on hand or in reserve may be in for some tough times ahead.  We have seen business very sluggish in China since early February, and expect it to stay this way through the first half of 2012.  The current contract delivered price for Capro in China for early March is $2900/MT, with most buyers paying below market in the $2840-$2860/MT for material.  This should put the price of prime PA6 pellets around $1.34-$1.35/lb. for large volume export orders, while the same PA6 pellets are selling around $1.42/lb. in the USA domestic market.  The warehouses along the coast in China are filled to capacity with packaged plastic materials, which is the same situation that we are currently seeing in the USA.  Olefin export sales to China are virtually nonexistent at this time, and the warehouses around Houston are filled with packaged materials.  Now is not the time to be taking a long position on any material that you do not have orders for in the near future.  We expect to see the price of prime PA6 pellets to soften even more before increased demand justifies further material price increases.  Unfortunately today’s plastic price increases are achieved through tightening the material supply, and not by true demand from increased sales.  That is, today’s plastic material price increases are supply driven and not driven by increased demand.

The Nylon 66 (PA66) market is also very slow in China at this time due to a lack of orders.  One of our problems is that as the price of prime PA6 softens in Asia, we see downward pressure being put on the price of PA66 off grade (wide specification) pellets and regrind materials in that market.  All of the USA domestic PA66 producers have raised the price of material in early 2012, which we have not able to pass through to our customers.  We see some tough times ahead in China in the first half of 2012, as many of their markets continue to adjust to today’s levels of decreased demand for finished goods.  China will see some single digit (6-7%) growth in 2012, but the days of 12-13% growth on an annual basis are over in the country.  China’s housing bubble has popped, as most home prices are correcting and losing more value every day.  In addition, China’s auto industry has seen sales falling off over the past several months, and most car manufacturers are currently overstocked with inventory.  Based on the current state of the Chinese economy we expect demand for plastic in the China market to be slow through the first half of 2012.

Dualloy Sells Nylon 66 – PA66 Off-Grade (wide-specification) Pellets / Regrinds

Dualloy sells the following Nylon 66 (PA66)  / Nylon 6 (PA6) materials:
Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Off Grade Pellets            
Nylon 66 Semi Dull Off Grade Pellets        
Nylon 66 Dull Off Grade Pellets        
Nylon 66 Off-Grade Textile 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 Regrinds    

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV - Bright
Packaged in 1,500# boxes
Fibers / Compounding Feedstock

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer production waste:
PA6 Kettle Bottoms
PA6 Capro Residue
Call for MOQ and current material prices

Dualloy purchases / sells plastic 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

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

Caprolactam (CPL) / Nylon 6 (PA6) prices are up in early January 2012

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd. - Plastic Scrap Recycling

Nylon 66 – PA66 Off-Grade (Wide Specification) Pellets
Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com
See our webpage at:  Dualloy.com


The Chinese New Year is upon us, with today being the first day of the year 4709 in the Year of the Water Dragon.   Gong Xi Fa Ca! “wishing you prosperity”    May the year 2012 or 4709 be a good year for everyone in the USA and China.  The China market will be slow for the next 7-10 days as they celebrate the Spring Festival, and most factories will stay closed for 15 days, or until around February 6th.  We think that there will be some material buying taking place in the China market once the factories start opening back up the second week in February.  Then the China plastics market will be active for 6-8 weeks, before slowing back down again once most buyers/factories have replenished their materials and finished goods inventories.  The Chinese markets continue to mature as they develop over time, and the days of them endlessly running product and filling up warehouses with inventory is over.  The days of the “Field of Dreams” mentality (“build it and they will buy it”) in China has come to an end.  The Chinese material purchasing patterns are very similar to those in the USA today, in that, they are mainly buying material as it is needed for the next production run.

The contract delivered price of Caprolactam (CPL) in china went up in January 2012 to the $2820-$2840/MT delivered price range, which is up from the low of $2500/MT that it reached in early December 2011.  CPL prices will be flat until mid-February due to the holiday in China, and then will start creeping back up as the market allows for feedstock and material price increases in 2102.  There is a lot of CPL capacity coming online in Asia in 2012, so although prices are heading back up, I don’t think they will get as high as they were in late 2011.   In January finished Nylon 6 - PA6 pellets are selling in the $2910-$2950/MT delivered price range in China for large volume export orders.  I think the overall China market in 2012 will be a repeat of 2011 after the initial material buying spree early in the year, because both the USA and European economies are still slow.   When consumers in the USA and Europe are not buying finished goods, the factories in China and India are not buying plastic and manufacturing products.

The Nylon 66 (PA66) off grade pellet market continues to be somewhat sluggish in early January 2012, with material prices starting to move up based on tight material supply.  We have seen PA 66 off grade pellets and regrind prices increase over the past 15 days, with most of the domestic suppliers continuing to be sold out of both PA 66 off-grade pellets and regrinds.  The PA66 market has less room for price softening than the PA6 market, so prices will stay at their current level, and then move up as soon as the economy starts to recover.  The price of Nylon 66 off grade materials should be somewhat stable in the first half of 2012, with prices starting to increase in the second half of the year, as the world economy begins to improve.

Here is where we see the various olefin material prices the week of January 23, 2012.
The following are Rail Car prices delivered to a packaging facility.
HDPE Prime Blow Molding Pellets        Domestic Sales $.60-.67/lb.
LDPE Ext Film Prime Pellets            Domestic Sales $.66-.73/lb.
LLDPE Ext Film Prime Pellets            Domestic $.65-.74/lb.
PPHomo Prime Pellets                Domestic $.68-.73/lb.
PPCopo Prime Pellets                Domestic $.68-.75/lb.   

Dualloy Sells Nylon 66 – PA66 Off-Grade (wide-specification) Pellets / Regrinds

Dualloy sells the following Nylon 66 (PA66)  / Nylon 6 (PA6) materials:
Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Off Grade Pellets           
Nylon 66 Semi Dull Off Grade Pellets       
Nylon 66 Dull Off Grade Pellets       
Nylon 66 Off-Grade Textile 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 Regrinds   

Prme Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV - Bright
Packaged in 1,500# boxes
Fibers / Compounding Feedstock

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon Caprolactam waste:
PA6 Kettle Bottoms
PA6 Capro Residue
Call for MOQ and current material prices

Dualloy purchases / sells plastics in the following forms:
Aged / Obsolete Virgin Pellets
Wide Specification, Off-grade Pellets
Clean uniform plastic regrinds
Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties
Nylon Fiber Bales

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

Dualloy Inc.
14027 Memorial Dr. Suite 433
Houston, TX 77079 USA
Tel #: 281-556-6481

September 2011 Asian Caprolactam (Capro) is selling in the $3450-$3500/MTprice range

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd. - Plastic Scrap Recycling Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com
See our webpage at:  Dualloy.com

The price of Caprolactam (capro) delivered to China in September 2011 seems to have settled in the $3450-$3500/MT price range.  Both the China and USA capro markets seem to be priced in about the same level, with China still leading the way with strong demand for the PA6 pellets.  The real challenge for the major PA6 producers is getting the price of their prime pellets to keep up with the capro price increases.  I hear that some of the major US PA6 producers are taking orders at $1.63/lb. for large volume sales.  The price of prime capro is up around $1.58/lb., so it is very hard for the producers to justify taking orders below a price of $1.70/lb. or higher for prime Nylon 6 pellets.  I think that the prime capro market has reached is maximum price level, and that capro prices will stay at their current level as long as China’s demand for fibers continues to grow.  The USA housing market continues to be slower than normal, and the PA6 carpet manufacturers are full of inventory.  Carpet consumption is down domestically, which should lead to some excess PA6 polymer capacity for the majors in the States.  We probably will not see the price of capro soften much until China develops enough internal capacity to slow down the importation of material into the country.

Nylon 66 (PA 66) continues to be a little bit soft in demand, with material prices softening a few cents in August.  Wide-spec PA 66 prices are down about $.03-$.05/lb. since late July 2011, and may soften even more in September if there is not an uptick in demand in the near future.  At this time we are having a hard time getting orders from our customers at the current PA66 price levels.  Our customers are still buying PA 66 and PA6, but only as they need material to run orders.   I expect Nylon 66 prices to remain flat in September, and stay at their current price level.  If demand for PA66 does not increase in the next 30-45 days, I think that we will see PA66 prices soften even more in the 4th Qtr 2011.

There is the new challenge to look out for in China today.  The Chinese central government has changed the way that they are allowing plastic scrap to be imported into the country.  The have started enforcing a new regulation requiring the owner of the Plastic Scarp Importation License (Permit) to sell all of the material that they import into China.  In the past, all plastic scrap was imported into China by a handful of plastic brokers that had been granted the Plastic Scarp Importation License.  The holder of Plastic Scarp Importation License would then charge other companies a fee per metric ton (or per container), and allow another company to import plastic scrap into China using their permit number.  Now the Chinese central government wants to bring more control into the system, and is requiring the holder of the Plastic Scarp Importation License to personally sell all of the material that they import.  Due to this change in the law there are now over 14,000 containers of plastic scrap backed up in the Port of Hong Kong waiting for movement into China.  

There is actually a shortage of plastic scrap like PMMA in south China due to the change in the law.  It is taking us longer to get our materials into the country, and we are paying an additional fee of $130/MT on the product that we are getting into China.  Our concern is that material prices are softening in China due to weak demand, and there are literally thousands of containers of plastic scrap stuck in the Port of Hong Kong.  We feel scrap plastic prices will soften even more due to the flood of material that will hit China once the containers backing up in Hong enter the market.

We feel all plastic material prices will soften slightly in September 2011, due to lower overall feedstock costs, and a sluggish world economy.  The majors don’t like hearing it but demand for product is weak, and our customers are resistant to any additional material price increases at this time.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon 66 (PA66) and Nylon 6 (PA6) materials for sale:
Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Wide Spec Pellets        $1.66/lb.    
Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets           $1.64/lb
Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets               $1.60/lb.
Nylon 66 Off-Grade Textile Bright Pellets        $1.68/lb.        
Nylon 66 Off-grade Pellets w/ up to .02% TiO2    $1.74/lb.
Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind                         $1.40/lb.
Nylon 66 Bright Regrind from Lump/Chunk    $1.48/lb.
Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind    $1.44/lb.
All prices are for full TL’s Ex-works USA plant.  All material prices are subject to change without notice.  All material offered is subject to prior sale.  Call for the current material price quotation.

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
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

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

Asian Caprolactam (Capro) prices continued to rise in July 2011

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd. - Plastic Scrap Recycling

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

See our webpage at:  Dualloy.com

The price of prime Caprolactam (Capro) was up again in the month July 2011 to over $3400/MT delivered in the Asian market.  Although we have seen most other material prices soften over the past 2 months, the price of Capro seems to be on the way back up.  The USA domestic producers raised the price of Caprolactam up to the $3500/MT or higher for August 2011 shipments.  The real problem now for the producers is getting the price of prime Nylon 6 to keep up with the monthly Caprolactam price increases.  Now with the current down turn in the world economy it will be hard for the Capro producers to keep the prices up as the price of oil drops into the low $80’s/barrel.  Both cotton and PET prices are dropping, which will put additional pressure on the price of Nylon 6 fibers to soften.  Cotton is currently selling at $1.49/lb, which has softened in price by 55% since reaching a high in March of $2.29/lb.

The price of prime Nylon 6 (PA6) pellets should start to soften due to lower feedstock costs, and downward pricing pressure from competitive fibers like cotton and PET.

We continue to see the Asian market slow in both domestic and export sales orders.  The Nylon 66 (PA66) wide-specification (WS) prices have remained stable in the Asian market due to the tightness in the material supply.  Although prime Nylon 66 prices have softened slightly in China, the price of the PA 66 WS pellets and regrinds have remained fairly stable in the Asian market.  This due to the fact that the USA domestic Nylon 66 producers are in a sold out position for their second quality pellets, fibers, and regrind scrap.  The WS Nylon 66 market is probably tighter in material supply than the prime market at this time, so don’t expect to see WS Nylon 66 prices soften much in 2011.

I would be cautious on any plastic material that is being purchased in the month of August.  PE / PP were both expected to go up in this month, but the current softening in the price of oil should put and end to both of those announced increases.  I think most Major Producers and Material Buyers are in a hold pattern, and are trying to figure out how much material prices will soften due to the continued downturn in the world economy.  We expect to see most material prices down or flat in price over the next 60 days.

 Dualloy is currently seeing the following material prices:

Generic prime PP pellets – PP were down another $.04/lb. in July, but then the producers announced a $.03.lb increase for August..  We are currently seeing the price of PP railcars in the $.71-.74/lb delivered price range.  LTL (20K#+) packaged goods should probably be selling in the $.84-.88/lb. delivered price range.

Generic prime LDPE pellets – The price of LDPE dropped by about $.04/lb. in July, but is up $.05/lb for August.  Railcars are still selling in the mid-$.80’s delivered to the packaging warehouse in Houston.  There is an increase of $.06/lb. announced in LDPE for Sept. 2011.

Generic Pellets HDPE – At the end of June delivered railcars of blow molding resin are selling in the $.62-$.64/lb. price range, and are expected to dip below $.60/lb. for July 2011 railcar shipments.

WS ABS – We are currently seeing WS ABS 3 MI / 3 Izod, Nat Color, low gloss pellets selling around $1.20/lb. in truck load quantities.

WS PC – We are currently seeing WS PC pellets selling in the $1.30-1.35/lb. price range.

PC Regrind – We currently see clean PC bottle RGR selling in the $.87-.92/lb. price range.

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

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Wide Spec Pellets            $1.66/lb.          

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets                $1.64/lb

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets                   $1.60/lb.

Nylon 66 Off-Grade Textile Bright Pellets     $1.68/lb.                      

Nylon 66 Off-grade Pellets w/ up to .02% TiO2   $1.74/lb.

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind                              $1.40/lb.

Nylon 66 Bright Regrind from Lump/Chunk         $1.48/lb.

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind         $1.44/lb.

All prices are for full TL’s Ex-works USA plant.  All material prices are subject to change without notice.

All material offered is subject to prior sale.  Call for the current material price quotation.

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

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

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

Acrylic PMMA Plastic Reycyling

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