Global synthetic fiber price index fell by 6.3 per cent in October on top of an almost five per cent drop in September, capping a 13-month slide in the measure. Though falling price of cotton has put tremendous pressure on synthetic pricing in the past several months, declining crude oil prices, which have fallen by more than 10 per cent since early September, and the resulting ingredients’ cost declines, have been the most recent cause of the downward pressure on manmade fiber pricing, helped along by overcapacity in fiber and raw materials production in Asia for both nylon and polyester.

In Asia, the world’s largest fiber producing region, synthetic fiber prices fell by more than almost 8 per cent in the month, their biggest decline in five months. Most of the drop was due to declining polyester filament and staple prices in both China and India. The biggest drop in polyester prices actually occurred in the first three weeks of the month, followed by a bottoming out and slight rise in the last week. However, these remain far below their pre-holiday levels of September, and are not expected to firm appreciably as long as intermediates prices remain low and apparel market growth remains sluggish.