Pressure for fibre price hikes mounts

05 September 1994 00:00  [Source: ICB]

RISING RAW material prices will result in a hike in synthetic fibre prices, virtually across the board, according to the Italian association of synthetic fibre producers, Assofibre. The hike is said to be immediate and would affect all manmade fibres, including polyamides, polyester, acrylics and polypropylene fibres.

However, although key fibre players are keen to voice support for these moves, action is thin on the ground as producers assess whether the upturn in demand seen in Q1 will be sustained. Both polyester and acrylic fibre producers have had some success increasing prices over the first two months of the year. An acrylic fibre producer said that if Q2 acrylonitrile prices rose by anything like the DM120/tonne proposed by their suppliers it was clear that it would be impossible to absorb it, but no increase had yet been announced.

A major nylon producer believed that with cyclohexane prices up 25% on the beginning of the year it was inevitable that they would be looking for an increase in Q2, possibly at the higher end of the 5-10% range.

The market situation in Europe was probably the best in which to push hikes through for several years with Far East imports slowing, the poor cotton crop, increases in competing fibre prices and a resumption in Russian buying. Customers, he believed, already anticipated a price rise.

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