In the first half of 2026, six polyester giant listed companies posted combined net profits exceeding 27 billion yuan. Hengli Petrochemical led with 7.2 billion yuan, while Hengyi Petrochemical recorded a staggering 2,546.88% year-on-year increase, becoming the fastest grower. This is not a simple cyclical rebound—it represents the dual realization of capacity barriers and geopolitical premiums.
Performance Overview: Profit Growth Far Outpaces Revenue Growth
Based on disclosed performance forecasts, all six companies achieved profit doubling or even multi-fold growth. Hengli Petrochemical reported net profit of approximately 7.2 billion yuan, up 136% year-on-year; Rongsheng Petrochemical expected 5.0 to 5.2 billion yuan, up over 730%; Eastern Shenghong 4.2 to 5.0 billion yuan, up nearly 10 times; Tongkun Group 4.1 to 4.5 billion yuan, up over 270%; and Xinfengming 1.38 to 1.5 billion yuan, up about 100%. Most notably, Hengyi Petrochemical's 5.5 to 6.0 billion yuan net profit corresponded to a year-on-year increase of over 2,300%.
Notably, the revenue growth rates of these companies are far lower than their profit growth rates. This indicates that profit growth mainly stems from gross margin expansion rather than pure volume growth. Public data shows that PTA processing spreads recovered from a loss-making state in the second half of 2025 to a range of 200-300 yuan per ton in H1 2026, while polyester filament yarn POY spreads also recovered to over 800 yuan per ton. Spread recovery directly translated into profit elasticity.
Driver One: Geopolitical Premium and Crude Oil Spreads
In early 2026, the US-Iran conflict escalated, disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude surged from $61 per barrel at the start of the year to $118 per barrel in March, stabilizing at $99 per barrel in Q2. Domestic refining companies, benefiting from diversified crude oil import channels, saw lower cost increases than their Japanese and Korean counterparts, creating a clear cost advantage.
For leading companies with integrated PX-PTA-polyester filament value chains, the transmission chain of rising oil prices is: crude oil → naphtha → PX → PTA → polyester filament. At each link, spreads widen during periods of rising oil prices, especially the spread between PX and naphtha, which expanded from $250 per ton at the beginning of the year to $380 per ton at the end of Q2. Hengli's 20 million-ton/year refining-chemical integration unit and Rongsheng's 40 million-ton/year Zhejiang Petrochemical project both captured excess returns from this spread expansion.
Driver Two: Supply Contraction from Anti-Inflation Measures
Over the past two years, the PTA industry suffered severe price wars, with losses reaching 200 yuan per ton at the lowest point. At the end of 2025, leading chemical fiber companies reached a consensus on voluntary production cuts, actively reducing operating rates for mainstream products like POY and FDY. Coupled with dual-carbon policy constraints and tightened approval for new capacity, no new PTA capacity came online in the first half of 2026.
The effect of supply-side contraction was immediate. The operating rate of the polyester filament industry fell from 85% in Q4 2025 to 78% in Q2 2026, but leading companies, leveraging scale advantages and cost control, saw profits rise sharply. Xinfengming explicitly stated in its announcement that the core driver of growth was the optimization of industry supply-demand dynamics. Tongkun Group also pointed out that processing spreads for PTA and polyester filament had clearly recovered compared to the same period last year.
Outlook: Can the Boom Cycle Last?
The industry currently faces two key variables. First, renewed tensions in the Middle East raise the risk of further oil price increases. For integrated leading companies, rising oil prices bring positive returns through spread expansion; however, for smaller downstream weaving enterprises, raw material cost pressures will quickly pass through. Second, anti-inflation policies are still in place, but there is a risk that some companies may restart expansion plans once profits recover.
From a capacity structure perspective, companies like Hengli, Rongsheng, and Shenghong have formed complete closed loops from refining to PX to PTA to polyester. This full-chain model provides natural risk resilience during oil price volatility. Meanwhile, projects like Hengyi's Phase II in Brunei and Shenghong's refining-chemical integration unit will release incremental capacity over the next two years. Institutional research reports generally believe that the current round of industry expansion is nearing its end, and the capacity barriers of leading companies will support the boom cycle into 2027.