Nylon DTY prices are hovering around the mid-level of the year, as the industry navigates a delicate balance between cost pass-through and demand dynamics.
Price Mid-Level Hovering: What It Signals
Industry data shows that on July 9, 2026, the benchmark price of Nylon DTY stood at 15,820 yuan/ton, down 0.13% from the start of the month. Over the past year, the price ranged from a low of 13,560 yuan/ton to a high of 18,960 yuan/ton, a swing of 5,400 yuan/ton. The current price is just 440 yuan away from the annual median of 16,260 yuan/ton, placing it in a typical "neither high nor low" zone.
What does this mid-level consolidation mean for the supply chain? For upstream raw material suppliers, the current price is insufficient to trigger large-scale restocking. For downstream weaving mills, this price point is neither a cost trough nor a risk peak, leading to generally cautious procurement decisions. The Texcircle editorial team notes that the average settlement price over the past 12 months was 15,053.88 yuan/ton, about 5% below the current benchmark, indicating that most transactions actually occurred at lower levels.
Cost Side: Caprolactam and Chip Price Pass-Through Stalled
The direct raw material for Nylon DTY is Nylon POY, which in turn is derived from caprolactam and nylon chips. In the first half of 2026, caprolactam prices experienced two rounds of bottoming, with the main price in East China dropping from 11,500 yuan/ton at the start of the year to 10,200 yuan/ton, before rebounding to around 10,800 yuan/ton. Chip prices followed suit, but the pass-through to DTY was significantly dampened.
The core reason for this transmission blockage is insufficient demand absorption capacity. Downstream sectors for Nylon DTY include warp knitting and circular knitting, with end products such as sportswear, underwear, and hosiery. Since Q2 2026, retail growth in apparel has slowed, with brand orders shifting to small batches and multiple SKUs, leading weaving mills to avoid large inventory buildup.
Supply and Demand: Capacity Release vs. Procurement Pace Mismatch
On the supply side, domestic nylon filament capacity continues to expand. According to industry data, approximately 80,000 tons of new capacity came online in the first half of 2026, mainly in Fujian and Jiangsu provinces. This capacity release puts sustained pressure on the market, especially for standard-spec DTY products, where homogenized competition is intensifying.
Demand shows clear seasonal characteristics. July-August is traditionally a low season for textiles, with operating rates in downstream sectors generally falling below 60%. Major weaving clusters in Zhejiang and Fujian report that current order backlogs only extend to late July, with no clear visibility into subsequent orders. This supply-demand mismatch has driven up Nylon DTY inventory levels since May, with industry average inventory days now exceeding 20.