The textile raw material market is undergoing a structural divergence. On July 8, 2026, data from China Customs and industry associations revealed stark contrasts in the daily price changes of major textile commodities: polyester staple fiber and PTA both rose over 1%, while acrylonitrile plunged 4.2% in a single day. This divergence reflects supply-demand mismatches across different segments of the chemical fiber chain, as well as differences in cost transmission between cotton and chemical fiber lines.
Chemical Fiber Sector: PTA and Polyester Staple Rise in Tandem, Acrylonitrile Leads Declines
Among the top three gainers, polyester staple fiber rose 1.08% to 7,346.17 yuan per ton, while PTA increased 1.07% to 5,873.34 yuan per ton. Their year-on-year gains reached 9.57% and 19.11% respectively, indicating continued upward pressure on upstream raw material costs. As a key intermediate in the polyester chain, higher PTA prices directly push up production costs for polyester staple fiber, prompting downstream price adjustments. For fabric buyers, this signals potential further increases in costs for polyester-based workwear and home textile fabrics.
Meanwhile, acrylonitrile dropped sharply from 9,533.33 to 9,133.33 yuan per ton, a daily decline of 4.20%, making it the biggest loser of the day. Despite a year-on-year increase of 15.61%, the sudden plunge suggests possible short-term oversupply or weakening demand from downstream sectors such as acrylic fiber and ABS resin. The volatility in acrylonitrile prices poses challenges for cost control in products like acrylic yarn and carbon fiber prepregs.
Cotton Chain: Cotton Edges Up, Yarn Prices Flat, Cost Transmission Stalls
Cotton prices inched up 0.07% to 17,917.67 yuan per ton, with a year-on-year gain of 17.86%. However, cotton yarn 21S and 32S prices remained unchanged at 23,466.67 and 24,875 yuan per ton respectively. This divergence is noteworthy: upstream cotton costs remain elevated, but downstream yarn prices have failed to follow suit, indicating limited acceptance of high-priced raw materials in the weaving sector. For cotton textile clusters in Shengze and Nantong, profit margins for spinning mills are shrinking, potentially forcing some small and medium-sized mills to cut production or shift to blended products.
Viscose staple fiber and rayon yarn prices also held flat at 14,200 and 17,925 yuan per ton respectively. Viscose staple fiber is up 9.06% year-on-year but has been range-bound for several days, suggesting that downstream rayon fabric demand has not picked up significantly.
Nylon and Polyester Filament: Stability Amid Pressure
Nylon DTY, FDY, and POY prices all remained unchanged at 15,820, 16,300, and 13,625 yuan per ton respectively. The nylon chain is relatively stable, but year-on-year gains of 5.5% to 8.78% imply hidden cost pressures. In the polyester filament segment, POY and DTY prices were flat, but FDY fell 1.29% to 8,295 yuan per ton. The decline in FDY may be linked to weakening demand for fine-denier yarn in the weaving sector, especially as the garment fabric season enters a lull.
Notably, spandex prices were flat at 29,666.67 yuan per ton, with a year-on-year surge of 21.09%—the highest among all monitored items. The prolonged high price of spandex continues to exert cost pressure on stretch fabrics and sportswear.
Raw Silk: The Only Year-on-Year Decliner, Sericulture Sector Under Strain
Raw silk prices edged down 0.07% to 425,700 yuan per ton, and it was the only commodity to show a year-on-year decline (-10.07%). The persistent weakness in raw silk prices reflects sluggish global silk consumption recovery, coupled with stable production in domestic sericulture regions, leading to a loose supply-demand balance. For major sericulture areas such as Guangxi and Zhejiang, prolonged low raw silk prices will affect silkworm farmers' income and industry investment confidence.