Disperse Black 300% approaching RMB 30,000 per ton is not a signal of an early peak season rush, but a passive rise under hard cost constraints. On August 8, the entire disperse dye range saw another broad increase, continuing the two rounds of price adjustments in July. The raw material reductive material has stabilized at a historical high of RMB 100,000 per ton, quadrupling from RMB 25,000 at the end of 2025, with a nearly 300% surge in a few months. Without price increases, dye manufacturers' profits would be devoured by raw material costs, making price hikes a necessary survival move.
Background
Reductive material (2-amino-4-acetaminoanisole) is an indispensable intermediate for black, blue, and violet disperse dyes. Its price soared from RMB 25,000 per ton at the end of 2025 to RMB 70,000-100,000 by March 2026, stabilizing above RMB 100,000 by mid-year. Domestic compliant reductive material capacity is only 50,000-60,000 tons, highly concentrated among Zhejiang Longsheng, Runtu, and Ningxia Zhongsheng Xinke. Expansion space is minimal, supply elasticity is weak, and any slight demand recovery directly pushes up quotes.
H-acid, the key intermediate for reactive dyes, is also tight. Its production involves sulfonation, nitration, and other highly polluting processes, and environmental controls have eliminated outdated capacity. Current effective domestic capacity is below 60,000 tons, with a perennial supply gap exceeding 10%. Simultaneous price hikes in both reductive material and H-acid create dual cost pressure, significantly reducing resistance to dye price increases.
Industry Impact
Dye prices nearly doubling directly transmits pressure to dyeing plants. The market is in a clear off-season, with average national dye plant operating rates around 60%, few bulk orders, and most enterprises relying on sampling and small orders. Soaring dye costs combined with insufficient orders rapidly compress profit margins, leaving dye plants in a passive position.
The industry's supply-demand logic has fundamentally changed: previously, dye plants leveraged capacity advantages to set prices during peak seasons, with rush fees and fabric premiums common. Now, conventional fabrics are increasingly commoditized, small orders are consolidated, and order resources concentrate among top customers. Most dye plants suffer from homogenized processes and lack differentiated competitiveness, shifting the market to a buyer's market where raising processing fees unilaterally is difficult. Only a few high-end dye plants with stable quality control and premium customer bases can independently raise processing fees.
Facing rising dye costs, some dye plants have issued fee increase notices to offset cost losses. However, off-season downstream demand is weak, and major customers have low acceptance of fee hikes, making downward cost transmission difficult. Most small and medium dye plants must absorb the difference themselves, and long-term loss-making operations are unsustainable.
Practical Recommendations
In the short term, off-season demand is weak, downstream fabric and garment enterprises have few orders, and they have not yet felt the pressure of higher dyeing fees. Most dye plants prioritize retaining core customers and have not yet broadly raised processing fees. However, the low-price bearing model cannot last. In September-October, the traditional stocking season will bring concentrated downstream garment and foreign trade orders, and the accumulated cost pressure from dyes and intermediates will transmit down the chain. At that time, broad dyeing fee increases will become an industry-wide choice, raising costs across the entire textile chain, from fabric mills to clothing brands to end consumers, who will all bear the brunt of this dye price surge.