Europe April nylon 6 contracts up €0.05-0.10/kg on supply, demand

19 April 2011 23:59  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--European nylon 6 (or polyamide 6) April contracts settled at an increase of €0.05–0.10/kg ($0.07–0.14/kg) from March, due to strong demand and tight supply, sources said on Tuesday.

Virgin polymer nylon 6 April contract prices settled at €2.49–2.68/kg FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe). Prices were reported both higher and lower but most considered this final range to be reflective by the bulk of the market.

Low availability was the result of difficulties in sourcing feedstock caprolactam, coupled with strong demand, players said.

High consumption was predominantly coming from the textiles and automotives downstream markets.

Nylon 6 players are still trying to assess the impact of the Japanese crisis on the automotive market.

It was recently reported that firm automotive off-take was driven by high Asian demand on the back of GDP growth and upwards social mobility in China.

European car manufacturers are also reported to be shipping high volumes of finished goods to Asia because of strong regional demand.

However the crisis in Japan, which has heavily impacted automotive vehicle and parts manufacturers in the country, has begun to impact on European car production. European car manufacturers are largely reliant on automotive parts sourced from Japan.

($1 = €0.70)

By: Sian Jones
+44 20 8652 3214

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