The price signals from the water treatment filter market are delivering a clear industry judgment: both supply and demand lack explosive power in the short term.
Price Stalemate: One Price for Three Specifications
On July 18, Henan Kaijie Water Treatment Co., Ltd. quoted a uniform price of 15,500 RMB/ton for its three ordinary fiber ball specifications—diameters of 50mm, 40mm, and 30mm. It is uncommon in the filter material industry for different particle sizes from the same manufacturer to carry the same price. Typically, smaller particle sizes involve higher processing difficulty and unit costs, justifying a premium. This pricing structure suggests that the manufacturer may be adjusting marginal profits across specifications to maintain overall shipment rhythm, reflecting high price sensitivity in end demand and an inability to raise prices on any single specification alone.
From an industrial cluster perspective, the area around Zhengzhou, Henan, hosts a number of water treatment consumables producers, but it is not a core zone for traditional textile chemical fiber deep processing. As a downstream product of polyester staple fiber, fiber ball price fluctuations are more constrained by the procurement rhythm of water treatment engineering projects than by short-term movements in the upstream chemical fiber raw material market.
Poor Upstream Transmission, Cautious Downstream Procurement
The main raw material for fiber balls is polyester staple fiber. Recently, the polyester staple fiber market has been in a off-season, with polyester raw material prices oscillating in a narrow range and rising inventory pressure at staple fiber mills. Under normal transmission logic, if raw materials weaken, filter material companies should gain a cost advantage and lower quotes to stimulate transactions. But Henan Kaijie's unchanged quotes indicate either that the company purchased raw materials at higher costs earlier and is unwilling to sell at a loss at current levels, or that downstream inquiries are extremely low and price cuts cannot effectively boost sales, making it preferable to maintain a price floor.
Downstream water treatment industries—especially industrial wastewater treatment and municipal sewage treatment—are experiencing a slowdown in investment growth. Public data shows that bidding volumes for environmental protection engineering projects in the first half of 2026 declined year-on-year, and the payment cycle for some small and medium-sized water treatment companies has lengthened, directly suppressing procurement willingness for consumables. Fiber balls, as filter media with longer replacement cycles, are often the first to be cut when budgets are tight.
Regional Competition and Substitute Pressure
The fiber ball market is not highly concentrated. Besides Henan Kaijie, there are many small and medium-sized filter material factories in Shandong, Jiangsu, and other regions producing similar products. At current price levels, industry-wide profit margins have been compressed. If demand does not pick up in Q3, some companies may resort to hidden price cuts—such as reducing fiber ball density or shortening service life—further depressing the industry average price.
Moreover, fiber balls face substitution competition from traditional filter media like quartz sand and anthracite, as well as new membrane filtration technologies. In water treatment upgrade projects, although membrane technology requires higher initial investment, its filtration precision and automation level surpass fiber balls, and its long-term operational cost advantages are attracting more project owners. This poses a structural threat to the existing fiber ball market.