Germany's PCI Nylon, which was set up by market research group PCI to study the global nylon market, has released a report stating that the European nylon market faces a challenging environment.
PCI Nylon, based in Oberusel, Germany, says that the global industry is in the middle of an investment spurt, set to continue in 2014, with most of it centered on China. However, the company points out, this growth could lead to problems for the European companies which have been increasing sales for their businesses by selling ever-increasing amounts of polymers to Asia.
PCI Nylon predicts that as China becomes more and more self-sufficient, the export market will decrease for Europe, and companies will be forced to turn to domestic business, resulting in over-capacity and high competition.
The research company says that while on the surface this looks good for nylon buyers, in reality it would result in value leaking out of the production chain as companies compete for the market share.
An example of this already occurring is with nylon 6 polymer, PCI Nylon says, which has seen its price revert back to the level it was at in 2006-07, but with oil now representing 28 percent of its cost instead of 18 percent. This means that while some in the production chain have been able to pass on the increased cost,s many others have been unable to do so.
This has particularly left European caprolactam producers in a very vulnerable position, says PCI Nylon.
PCI Nylon was formed in 2004 to look at the worldwide nylon industry as an integrated whole.