As the tide of capacity expansion recedes, the nylon industry is facing its true test of internal strength. In August 2026, the annual meeting of the Nylon Branch of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association sent a clear signal: the industry is shifting from scale competition to quality competition, and the pace of technological breakthroughs will determine who remains at the table in the next round of reshuffling.
Event Background
The annual meeting held in Shantou, Guangdong, brought together core forces from the upstream and downstream of the nylon industry chain. Key figures such as Chen Xinwei, President of the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, Mei Zhen, Vice President of Hengshen Holdings, and Pan Yi, General Manager of Transfar Chemicals, were all present. Shantou, as an important production base for nylon and nylon-spandex knitted fabrics in China, saw its transformation path from 'dispersed and extensive' to 'full-chain aggregation' promoted as a typical example to the entire industry. This reflects a reality: the integration capability of regional industrial belts is becoming a new benchmark for measuring competitiveness.
Linyi Information's industry analysis pointed out that the nylon 6 industry chain is currently in a special stage of 'slowing capacity expansion but intensifying competition.' This means that the extensive model that relied on incremental markets to mask problems has become ineffective, and enterprises must find new profit fulcrums in stock competition. Notably, Lu Wenjuan, a representative of the nylon 66 industry chain, proposed the goal of 'dual stability in quality and supply,' which requires breaking down barriers and collaborative linkage between raw material suppliers and application ends, rather than fighting separately.
Industry Impact
The dense cluster of technological breakthroughs is the most noteworthy industrial signal of this annual meeting. Professor Cai Zhengguo's team at Donghua University introduced the anionic ring-opening polymerization of caprolactam and direct melt spinning technology for nylon 6, compressing the polymerization cycle from several hours in traditional processes to just over ten minutes while controlling cyclic dimer residue below 0.01wt%. This achievement directly addresses long-standing pain points such as high oligomer residue and difficulty in direct spinning, meaning that production efficiency and product quality can achieve a simultaneous leap. For spinning enterprises, this is not just a cost issue but also the underlying support for product differentiation capabilities.
The implementation paths for intelligent manufacturing and green energy are equally clear. Professor Hu Xudong from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University outlined a three-stage path for digital transformation and identified embodied robots as the core tool for future low-labor factories. Sinan New Energy's smart integrated energy solution targets the characteristics of high electricity, high heat, and dispersed energy use in the nylon industry, providing all-scenario intelligent control services such as energy-carbon management and smart steam. These solutions collectively indicate that cost reduction and efficiency enhancement are no longer slogans but quantifiable and replicable engineering practices.
On the differentiated materials front, Zhejiang Jincai New Material's over 20 types of functional masterbatches cover directions such as graphene, mint cooling, white conductive, and EGCG deodorizing, with graphene masterbatch-treated fabrics achieving an antibacterial rate of over 99%. Hangzhou Jiersi's halogen-free flame-retardant nylon chips achieve an oxygen index of 30%-32% and solve the inherent defect of nylon fabric melt dripping by blending with Lyocell fibers. These technological accumulations mean that nylon is no longer just a 'substitute' but is becoming an independent protagonist in the field of functional fabrics.