The Worry Of The Spandex Industry: Is The Supply Of Raw Materials Adequate?

In the past two years, under the attraction of active operation situation and good benefits, the domestic spandex industry has seen another round of investment upsurge. Which includes both existing Spandex enterprise The expansion and expansion investment also has the entry of fresh blood in other industries.

By the end of 2009, spandex's total capacity reached 625 thousand and 800 tons / year, while China's spandex production capacity reached 355 thousand tons / year, accounting for 57% of the world's total. China has become the largest producer and consumer of spandex in the world. This year, spandex expansion boom is still continuing.

Many people expressed concern about this. Such concerns are particularly focused on whether the supply of raw materials is adequate and stable, and whether downstream demand can digest fast-growing spandex productivity.

Raw materials affect market stability

At present, there are two kinds of spandex production technology in China: dry spinning and melt spinning.

　　 Melt spinning Spandex technology is a new spandex production technology developed in recent years. It has the advantages of less investment, short production cycle, simple production process, high output, low cost and no pollution. It has become a hot spot for major manufacturers to compete for research, development and investment. By the end of 2009, China had 36 spandex production enterprises, with a total capacity of 25 thousand and 100 tons / year. However, the overall operating rate of the melt spinning spandex industry has always been low. The reason is that the raw material melt spinning spandex chips rely entirely on imports. There are 7 enterprises producing melt spinning spandex chips abroad, including Japan's bell spinning, Japanese spinning, Koryo, star enterprises, BASF, Ewing Da fiser, and noir, USA. The domestic spandex chips are mainly made of German BASF and American Nobel's products.

Compared with melt spinning process, Dry spinning process In China, the application time is longer and the scope of use is wider. By the end of 2009, the number of dry spinning spandex plants in China has risen to 30, with a total production capacity of 330 thousand tons / year. Zhejiang Huafeng, Xiao Xing spandex, Ying Wei Da spandex, Yantai spandex and other well-known enterprises all adopt dry spinning technology. The main raw materials of dry spinning spandex are PTMEG and MDI. The fluctuation of their price will directly affect the stability of our spandex industry in the future market.

Pure MDI accounts for 20% to 30% of the raw material of spandex. According to forecasts, domestic MDI production capacity will reach 1 million tons / year in 2010. If spandex output reaches 350 thousand tons in 2010, it needs pure MDI 100 thousand tons. Therefore, under normal circumstances, sufficient supply of pure MDI will not cause large fluctuations in the spandex market.

In contrast, the situation of PTMEG is hardly optimistic. PTMEG accounts for 70% to 80% of the raw material of spandex, and 90% of the domestic PTMEG output is used for spandex. In recent years, due to the rapid growth of spandex productivity in China, PTMEG prices have risen all the way. The spanning capacity of spandex reached 350 thousand tons in 2010, which required about 260 thousand tons of PTMEG and a large gap. Domestic spandex uses many PTMEG from the United States, Japan and Taiwan, so there is a great possibility that prices will continue to climb in the future. PTMEG raw materials may be an important factor affecting the future market stability of China's spandex industry.

Overcapacity is emerging.

According to the trend of garment demand in the international market and the overall operation of domestic production enterprises, the actual demand for spandex in 2009 is about 195 thousand tons.

Judging from the actual market situation, although the consumption of traditional markets in spandex in 2009 is not as good as in previous years, due to the large downward price of spandex prices, its application cost has dropped significantly, spandex has become more and more popular, and its application in some low-end textiles in China has been more and more extensive. Some regional markets and countries that mainly produce and consume medium and low grade products have increased the total purchasing amount of spandex. The upward trend of domestic market demand is particularly obvious, which has played an obvious supporting role in the steady development of China's Spandex demand.

Spandex industry has a very close relationship with textile industry (including knitting, weaving, chemical fiber, garment industry, etc.). China is a large textile country and a large exporter of textiles. 70% of the fabrics exported from chemical fiber and textiles contain spandex ingredients (3%~18%). The rapid development of China's textile industry is undoubtedly the most effective guarantee for the sustainable development of the spandex industry.

In 2010, the overall trend of China's spandex industry showed a trend of slow growth along with the gradual recovery of the international economy. The demand for spandex is expected to increase further.

However, with the rapid expansion of spandex productivity, the oversupply of domestic market is beginning to show. In 2009, the overall capacity of spandex in China increased again. However, due to the change of market demand and the shift of the focus of work of various manufacturers, the actual output did not reach the full capacity calibration value, making the increment of downstream demand basically balanced with the expansion of spandex production. As the new capacity has been put into operation in recent two years, it is estimated that the competition of domestic spandex industry will become more intense after 2011.

The difference rate is less than 30%.

Although China has become a major producer and consumer of spandex in the world, it is not a manufacturing powerhouse. Compared with the international spandex giant, Nida, Korea, Japan, Asahi, Japan, there is still a big gap in manufacturing technology, product quality, differentiation and functional level.

Most of spandex in China are general varieties, and there are few varieties of spandex with high performance, multi-function and multi-purpose. At present, the differential rate of spandex in China is less than 30%, while the difference rate of spandex in developed countries is higher than 50%. From the perspective of application trend, it is an inevitable choice to actively develop high absorbent and wet spandex, high degree spandex, antibacterial spandex and high-performance functional differential spandex, and actively develop high-grade, fashionable and personalized spandex fabrics.

With the abolition of the quota system of textiles and clothing in Europe and the United States, the export of European and American markets will usher in new opportunities in the next few years. China, Japan, the United States and Europe agreed to set up a free trade zone agreement on textile industry, which will undoubtedly benefit the export of our spandex textiles and garments to Europe, the United States and Japan.

At present, the spandex industry in India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Asian countries is in the initial stage, and its capacity is relatively small. These countries also have a good foundation for cotton spinning, polyester, acrylic fiber and other industries, and are potential markets for Spandex Products. In addition, the market potential of spandex in Eastern Europe, Russia, South America, Africa and other countries is also great.

China's spandex industry has developed rapidly, and already has scale effect and strong comprehensive competitiveness, and has formed a strong group of spandex industrial chains. All of these have laid a solid foundation for the sustainable development of China's spandex industry.