In the last week of June 2026, price monitoring data for textile commodities delivered a clear signal: the market is heading toward extreme divergence. Among 17 monitored products, only two posted gains, 13 declined, and the overall sector average weekly drop was 1.65%. More notably, products with declines exceeding 5% accounted for 11.8%, a rare occurrence in the past six months.
Chemical fiber chain under pressure
Acrylonitrile and PTA, the top two decliners, fell 6.92% and 5.10% respectively week-on-week. This not only erased gains from previous weeks but also directly compressed profit expectations across the chemical fiber chain. Acrylonitrile dropped from 10,833 yuan/ton to 10,083 yuan/ton, with its year-on-year gain quickly narrowing from 25%, indicating that earlier cost-driven price hikes have lost momentum. PTA fell from 6,042 yuan/ton to 5,734 yuan/ton, still up 12.8% year-on-year, but the 5% weekly decline shows polyester mills are significantly less willing to take delivery.
All polyester filament yarn varieties—POY, DTY, and FDY—declined, with drops ranging from 1.62% to 2.60%. Polyester staple fiber also fell 0.91%. This data implies that the entire polyester chain, from raw materials to finished goods, is weakening simultaneously, with declines trending from upstream to downstream. Polyester yarn prices dropped 1.79%, indicating that spinning mills are not benefiting from lower raw material costs but instead face dual pressure from falling product prices and inventory depreciation.
Temperature gap between cotton and chemical fiber
In stark contrast to the broad decline in chemical fiber, cotton yarn 21S and 32S edged up 0.14% and 0.10% respectively, closing the week at 23,400 yuan/ton and 24,725 yuan/ton. Year-on-year, cotton yarn 21S rose 7.50% and cotton yarn 32S rose 6.57%, showing modest but stable gains. This is underpinned by cotton prices—although raw cotton fell 1.23% week-on-week to 17,418 yuan/ton, it is still up 16.08% year-on-year, meaning the cost base remains solid.
Viscose staple fiber and rayon yarn prices were flat at 14,200 yuan/ton and 17,925 yuan/ton respectively. Viscose staple fiber is up 9.06% year-on-year, indicating it has already fully absorbed earlier cost increases and is now in a high-level consolidation phase. For downstream weaving mills, this means cotton-based products exhibit much stronger price resilience than chemical fiber products, requiring differentiated procurement decisions.
Nylon and spandex: signals of a correction from highs
The entire nylon series—DTY, POY, FDY—declined, with drops ranging from 0.88% to 1.21%. Despite year-on-year gains of 5.5% to 8.98%, the consecutive weekly corrections are a warning sign. Spandex fell 0.56% to 29,667 yuan/ton, but is still up 21.09% year-on-year—the highest among all monitored varieties. This correction may indicate cooling demand for stretch fabrics or destocking by distributors who had built up inventories earlier.
Raw silk fell 1.99% to 428,100 yuan/ton, down 10.12% year-on-year—the only variety with a year-on-year decline. The persistent weakness in raw silk reflects sluggish end-consumer demand for silk products, contrasting sharply with chemical fiber and cotton, underscoring the accelerating divergence among different sub-sectors.
Shift in market logic
The core message from this week's data is that the textile raw material market is transitioning from a "cost-push" to a "demand-driven" model. Earlier, high crude oil and coal prices supported chemical fiber raw material prices, but downstream weaving and garment orders did not expand in tandem, leading to inventory buildup and price pressure in intermediate links. The sharp drops in acrylonitrile and PTA essentially reflect the digestion of earlier price bubbles.
For buyers, now is not the time to blindly buy the dip. The downtrend in chemical fiber raw materials has not yet shown signs of stabilizing, while cotton yarn prices remain relatively firm, but cotton prices are also softening. The recommended strategy is "short-term orders plus batch procurement" to avoid locking in long-term contracts. For foreign trade companies, fluctuating exchange rates combined with falling raw material prices require more frequent adjustments to export quotations; it is advisable to shift from fixed pricing to floating or periodic reset pricing.