Honeywell seeks 10 cent/lb increase on N American capro, nylon 6

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Honeywell intends to raise the price of its caprolactam (capro) and nylon 6 resins in North America by 10 cent/lb ($220/tonne), effective 11 July or as contracts allow, the US producer announced on Monday.

“The company re-evaluated its pricing on specialty polymer nylon products because of higher raw material costs,” Honeywell said in a news release.

Honeywell’s announcement is the second price increase initiative sought by a US producer in the last week.

US contract prices for upstream benzene had fallen by 61 cents/gal in the recent months since February, but the July contract settled at a spike of 80 cents/gal, causing concern in many downstream markets.

Benzene is the feedstock for cyclohexane (CX), which is the precursor for capro in the nylon 6 supply chain.

Some market participants recognised that benzene prices soared at a much quicker pace than it took for them to soften and that prices were now at record highs.

Still, one distributor said it did not believe the market conditions were there to support an increase, while another source said that global supply of capro and nylon 6 remained long amid soft demand for finished products.

According to the distributor, implementation likely will affect only smaller buyers if it is successful, whereas larger users may not see a price increase if they have options.

Currently, the ICIS-assessed domestic price for nylon 6 injection moulding grade in bulk is $1.25-1.35/lb.

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