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

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

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