As the throttle of capacity expansion gradually loosens, the nylon industry is steering into a narrow lane of transformation defined by quality and efficiency. In mid-August 2026, the annual meeting and innovation forum of the Nylon Branch of the China Chemical Fiber Association convened in Shantou, Guangdong. The core signal was not a mere survival strategy but a deep rebalancing—from scale competition to value competition.
Background
Shantou, a city renowned for underwear and knitted fabrics, is becoming a window into the restructuring of the nylon supply chain. Weng Chuangjie, chairman of Hongjie Underwear and president of the Shantou Textile and Apparel Industry Association, revealed at the meeting that the local production base for nylon and nylon-spandex knitted fabrics is showing a strong trend of "full-chain aggregation." This marks a shift from the previously "fragmented and extensive" textile industry in Shantou, which is now leveraging nylon projects to fill upstream material gaps and form a closed-loop ecosystem from chips to fabrics.
Parallel to regional industrial upgrading is an industry-wide warning from operational data. Zhuang Xiaohua, head of the synthetic fiber chain at Longzhong Information, noted that the nylon 6 industry chain is in a stage of "slowing capacity expansion but intensifying competition." This assessment aligns with the remarks of Deng Jun, deputy director of the branch: the industry underwent deep adjustment in 2025, and in 2026, complex international situations and significant oil price fluctuations, coupled with supply-demand imbalances from temporary overcapacity, are forcing companies to re-examine their growth logic.
Industrial Impact
Technological breakthroughs emerged as the brightest "solution" at the meeting. Professor Cai Zhengguo from Donghua University presented a technology for anionic ring-opening polymerization of caprolactam and melt direct spinning of nylon 6, directly addressing the pain points of traditional hydrolysis polymerization—long cycles and high oligomer residues. The solution reduces cyclic dimer residues to below 0.01wt%, compresses the polymerization cycle to about ten minutes, and can directly adapt to melt direct spinning processes, with spinning performance close to commercial levels. This implies that if the technology is industrialized, energy and time costs for nylon production will be significantly reduced, and the technical threshold for small and medium enterprises will rise.
In the differentiation track, Zhejiang Jincai New Materials' over 20 functional masterbatches (including graphene, mint cooling, white conductive, EGCG deodorizing, heat-absorbing and heat-generating, and far-infrared heating) and Hangzhou Jiersi's halogen-free flame-retardant nylon chips are providing downstream fabric companies with more "selling point ammunition." Among them, textiles treated with graphene masterbatch achieve an antibacterial rate of over 99%, while halogen-free flame-retardant chips have an oxygen index of 30%–32%, and blending with Lyocell fibers can also solve the melt-drip pain point of nylon fabrics. These technologies are no longer lab concepts but mature solutions that can directly interface with POY/FDY/BCF spinning processes.
The integration of intelligent manufacturing and green energy is reshaping the cost structure of nylon factories. Professor Hu Xudong from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University proposed a three-stage path of "digital transformation—networked collaboration—intelligent upgrading," and the prospect of embodied robots supporting low-labor intelligent factories paints a picture of efficiency solutions under rising labor costs. Meanwhile, Sian New Energy, targeting the high electricity and heat consumption and dispersed energy systems of the nylon industry, offers energy-carbon management platforms and full-scenario intelligent control solutions for steam, hot water, cooling, and air compression, helping companies systematically reduce costs and carbon emissions—under carbon tariffs and green procurement pressures, this has shifted from an option to a necessity.
Notably, domestic substitution in equipment and oil agents is accelerating. Beijing Zhongli Jizhi's complete engineering technology solutions covering nylon 6/66 fine denier, high-strength, mother yarn, fine denier annular blowing, and composite spinning have been deeply integrated with leading companies such as Yongrong Jinjiang, Hengshen, Hengyi, and Shenma. Zhejiang Transfar Chemicals, leveraging 30 years of experience in fiber oil agents, has launched customized oil agent series for FDY, POY, and post-spinning processes, addressing pain points such as poor consistency, difficult oil film control, and insufficient thermal stability, with measured performance comparable to international competitors. This sends a clear signal: the "bottleneck" links in the upstream supply chain are loosening, but whether companies can effectively use these domestic solutions will determine their cost competitiveness in the next phase.