Prices of polyester industrial yarn have gradually stabilized in China. Prices edged up in January to October 2018, hitting a five-year high. Operating rate of PIY plants was relatively stable in 2018, with a low level appearing during the spring festival on a turnaround and peaking in January to August. The operating rate change was mainly due to the turnaround in some mainstream big units like Guxiandao and Unifull.

Many plants have added capacity or plan to expand capacity. If the new capacity in 2019-2020 starts operation as scheduled, the downstream market may need at least eight years to consume the excess capacity.

Huaya has increased production to 250 mt a day. The new products focus on conventional coarse deniers like 3000D. Taizhou Sanwei’s new unit is scheduled to begin operation in the first half of 2019. The on-spec goods are conservatively anticipated to appear in August, which may have limited influence on the actual production in 2019. Hengli’s new plant has been delayed for many years. Billion plans to add new textile filament and PIY capacity in two years.

The production chain of most PIY plants is relatively short, with hardly any supporting unit of the industrial chain, especially upstream equipment. Most PIY plants are medium-to-small sized units, not even having a PET fiber chip equipment.