Plastic Recycling in the USA / China Markets

Posted on August 1, 2011 by

Jim Gubera’s Plastic Recycling Blog

Plastic Recycling in the USA / China Markets

For the past several years I have posted my plastic recycling Blog on Blogger.com  as Plastic Recycling in the USA / China Markets  “A Collection of observations and thoughts about plastic recycling and plastic sales in the USA / China”  at http://dualloy.blogspot.com/ .  I am now moving the Blog to the website for XS Polymers International, LLC.  Please continue to follow my Blog post on this new site that you are now on.

I actually have 2 jobs that I work at in the plastic recycling business.  My main job is on working with Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd. out of Hong Kong in developing and managing plastic scrap recycling programs for the major USA / European polymer manufacturers.  Here I oversee the purchasing and export shipments of the materials that Dualloy purchases in the North America and ships to China.

In addition, after working in the plastic industry selling prime and wide specification resins, I opened XS Polymers International, LLC in Houston in 2000.  XS Polymers is a plastics sales and plastic recycling service company.  At XS Polymers International we develop plastic sales programs and scrap plastic recycling programs for materials that do not export out of North America.

XS Polymers Internatonal, LLC is a Houston, Texas based plastic / scrap sales company and plastic recycling company established in 2000.  Our mission at XS Polymers International, LLC is to sell all of our customer’s plastic pellets, regrind, or scrap that is accurately represented as the materials specifications.  And to deliver material that is clean and free of any plastic cross contamination or foreign debris.   Our goal is to target 100% on time material shipments and deliveries.  And to offer plastic and scrap materials that are always competitively priced based on the current local market conditions.

XS Polymers International, LLC provides every customer with quality plastic and service they can rely on, and backed by product knowledge they can trust.  Our goal is to exceed your expectation of our product quality and service, because our success is based on your satisfaction.

Plastic Sales & Plastic Recycling Services

Buy  ** Sell  ** Recycle

Commodity Plastics & Engineering Resins

USA * Mexico * Hong Kong * China

XS Polymers International, LLC Buys and Sells Plastic / Scrap

Aged/Obsolete Pellets, Pencil Prime Pellets, Off-Grade Pellets

Regrinds, Shredded Parts/Sheet, Baled Parts, Baled Fibers, Baled Film

Film Rolls, Lumps/Chunks and Purge Patties, Sump/Pan Resins

Acrylic (PMMA), Nylon 66 (PA66),  6 PA6, Nylon 612 (PA612), Acetal (POM) Thermoplastic Urethanes (TPU), Solution Process TPU, HIPS, MIPS, GPPS, SAN, ABS, PC Polycarbonate, Thermoplastic Elastomers (TPE), TPO, POE, PBT PPS, EVA, EMA, EBA, Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP),

Silicone Rubber Scrap, Thermoplastic Rubber TPR

XS Polymers International, LLC provides every customer with quality plastic and service they can rely on, and backed by product knowledge they can trust.  Our goal is to exceed your expectation of our product quality and service, because our success is based on your satisfaction.

Contact:  James Gubera at: 

Email:  jim@xspoly.com

Tel #:   281-556-6481

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Caprolactam prices in Asia are back to rising after falling to around $3120/MT in late May 2011

Posted on June 30, 2011 by
It is hard to say what is going to happen to plastic resin prices through the 3 QTR of 2011, but I feel most resin prices will soften over the next 30-60 days.  We saw Caprolactam (Capro) fall in price by about $400/MT in late May to a price range of about $3120-$3130/MT, after reaching a high of around $3500/MT at the beginning of the month.  In June we saw the capro price in China recover by about $100/MT ending the month in the $3220-$3230/MT delivered price range.  The USA major Capro producers are hoping to push the price up to $3300/MT in July, but I don’t think that there is enough demand in the world market to support the next price increase.  China’s housing market is continuing to show signs of slowing down, especially after the Central Government raised the Banks reserve rate last week to 21.5%.  This ½ percent increase in the reserve rate will take an additional USD$57-58 billion out of circulation in the Chinese economy. 
In addition, China’s Government Banks have tightened their lending practices to small companies, which forces most small companies to seek high interest business loans from the private sector (loan sharks).  The current correction in the Chinese market is just beginning, and will continue to worsen over the next 30-90 days, so watch for plastic material inventories to build and prices to fall during the same time period.  Due to the slower demand in the China market for prime Nylon 6 pellets material inventories are starting to grow, and prices are continuing to soften.  It is hard for me to put my finger on the price of wide specification (WS) Nylon resins in China today, because no one is placing orders for material.  We have both Nylon 66 and Nylon 6 products in inventory to sell in our Guangzhou warehouse, but we do not see the customers coming in the door to buy material.  The major polymer producers know that China’s manufacturing is slowing down in the short run, and are hoping that India will become the new emerging market to keep the world’s plastic supply in balance (short).
Please see out web page at:   http://dualloy.com/
We are currently seeing the following material prices:
Generic prime PP pellets – PP prices are down by about $.07-.08/lb. in June and should soften some more in July.  We are currently seeing the price of PP railcars in the $.75-.77/lb delivered price range.  LTL (20K#+) packaged goods should probably be selling in the $.88-.92/lb. delivered price range.  Wait 2 more days and you should be able to buy the same material for less in July.
Generic prime LDPE pellets – The price of LDPE dropped by about $.08/lb. in June as well.  Railcars are currently selling in the mid-$.80’s delivered to the packaging warehouse in Houston.
Generic prime HDPE pellets– The biggest price drop of about $.09/lb. was seen in generic prime HDPE blow molding material, and it as well should continue to soften in July.  At the end of June delivered railcars of blow molding resin are selling in the $.65-$.66/lb. price range, and are expected to dip below $.60/lb. for July 2011 railcar shipments.
Wide-Specification (WS) ABS – We are currently seeing WS ABS 3 MI / 3 Izod, Nat Color, low gloss pellets selling around $1.20/lb. in truck load quantities.
WS PC – We are currently seeing WS PC pellets selling in the $1.30-1.35/lb. price range.
PC Regrind – We currently see clean PC bottle RGR selling in the $.87-.92/lb. price range.
Dualloy has the following Nylon 66 (PA66) and Nylon 6 (PA6) materials for sale;
Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Wide Spec Pellets           $1.66/lb.          
Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets               $1.64/lb
Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets                  $1.60/lb.
Nylon 66 Off-Grade Textile Bright Pellets       $1.68/lb.                      
Nylon 66 Off-grade Pellets w/ up to .02% TiO2   $1.74/lb.
Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind                            $1.40/lb.
Nylon 66 Bright Regrind from Lump/Chunk       $1.48/lb.
Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind       $1.44/lb.
All prices are for full TL’s Ex-works USA plant.  All material prices are subject to change without notice.  All material offered is subject to prior sale.  Call for the current material price quotation.

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural
Packaged in 1,500# boxes
Dualloy Sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer production waste.
PA6 Kettle Bottoms
PA6 Capro Residue
Call for MOQ and current material prices
Dualloy purchases / sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.
Aged / Obsolete Virgin Pellets
Wide Specification, Off-grade Pellets
Clean uniform plastic regrinds
Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties
Nylon Fiber Bales
Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com
See us on Facebook at the following pages:
Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd.
Nylon 66 Plastic Sales
Nylon 6 (PA 6) Plastic Sales
Nylon 66 Plastic Recycling Company
PVB Plastic Recycling – Polyvinyl Butyral
Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap Recycling
Posted in Caprolactam, HDPE, LDPE, Nylon 6, PP | Leave a comment

Caprolactam (Capro) and Nylon 6 (PA6) continue to soften in the Asia/China markets.

Posted on May 15, 2011 by

The price of prime Caprolactam continues to soften in the Asian market. Last week Capro was selling in China in the $3320/MT price range and falling. The USA Capro suppliers (Honeywell / BASF) are trying to maintain the price at $3500/MT for their material, but the China Capro producers are being much more aggressive in leading the Capro price reductions. Most of our Nylon 6 buyers (compounders and end users) have stopped buying resin, and are running their plants on lower cost old inventory that is in the warehouse. Any Capro or Nylon 6 (PA6) price increases at this time are being driven by the China traders/brokers on the supply side, because today’s price increases are not based on true demand. Most materials buyers feel these markets will continue to soften, and will stay out of the Capro and PA6 market as long as their old inventory will allow. Over the past week we have watched PA6 drop in price by about $.01 ($22/MT) per day, and it looks like this trend will continue in the short run.

The Nylon 66 (PA 66) market is also starting to show signs of price softening in China, but not to the same extent as the Capro and PA 6 price decreases. PA 66 is a much tighter market on the supply side, so it probably won’t see the weekly price decreases that are being seen in the PA 6 market. Most of our customers feel that all material prices have gotten out of hand, and they can no longer pass them on to the end product and consumers. I think that PA 66 prices will stabilize before the price of PA 6 due to a tighter supply of the material in the world market. I will not guess where either material, PA 66 or PA 6, is going to bottom out, but the current slowdown in the China market will definitely have its impact on both materials and continue to drive down prices in the short run.

We see material prices continue to head up in both the domestic and China Acrylic (PMMA) markets, which will not be helped by the recent flooding on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Lucite has declared force majeure in the MMA market due to this recent flooding, because of their inability to move MMA monomer barges up both rivers to their customers due to the high water. I understand that the flooding has had a negative impact on the styrene monomer market, which has lead to Ineos declaring force majeure in the polystyrene market late last week. I am not sure if this is going to drive up material prices for PMMA or PS in the short run, because these should be temporary feedstock supply disruptions that will go away once the water level gets back to normal on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

The domestic ABS market appears to be sold out through June, and most of the USA suppliers are now taking orders for July. The crazy part is that you have to get your orders in now for July shipments, but the suppliers cannot tell the buyers where the price for material will be when they ship the car of ABS to the warehouse for packaging. It is basically order now, and you will be billed at the July market price that will be determined for ABS in mid-June.

When are the material price increases for plastic going to stop? Today it is any ones guess.

I think that most plastic materials have reached their peak in pricing, and should start to show signs of softening as we move into the summer months. The public warehouse that we use in Houston, TX, mainly loads export containers for Formosa Plastics, and they have not loaded a single export container of either PE or PP since the first of April. Olefin inventories are starting to back up in the Houston packaging warehouses, because the domestic producers have priced themselves out of the Asian export market. The ABS producers will start building excess inventories as well as we move into the summer months, because of the slow housing market and decreased demand from DWV pipe producers.

Here is where we pricing for the following materials the week of May 16, 2011. These are material buying prices for TL or larger quantities from the large plastic resellers / brokers.

ABS Wide-spec pellets (3 Melt / 3 Izod – low gloss) $1.20+/lb.

ABS Prime Pellets $1.35+/lb.

SAN Wide-spec pellets (w/black specs) $.90/lb.

SAN Wide-spec pellets (good color) $.96-.98//lb.

SAN Prime pellets $1.30+/lb.

PC/ABS Black Wide-spec pellets $.92-.95/lb.

PC/ABS Black reprocessed pellets $.82-.85/lb.

PP Homo Prime Railcars $1.14+/lb.

PP Homo Prime truck loads $1.25+/lb.

LDPE Wide-spec truck loads $.85-.90/lb.

LDPE Prime $1.10+/lb.

HDPE Blow Molding Grade $.80-.83/lb.

(Some brokers are still selling old inventory at) $.77-.79/lb.

HDPE Injection $.75-.77/lb.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon 66 (PA66) and Nylon 6 (PA6) materials for sale;

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Off-GradeTextile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Off-grade Pellets w/ up to .02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrind from Lump/Chunk

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind


Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Dualloy Sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer production waste.

PA6 Kettle Bottoms

PA6 Capro Residue

PA6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices

Dualloy purchases / sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged / Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide Specification, Off-grade Pellets

Clean uniform plastic regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

See us on Facebook at the following pages:

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd.

Nylon 66 Plastic Sales

Nylon 6 (PA 6) Plastic Sales

Nylon 66 Plastic Recycling Company

PVB Plastic Recycling – Polyvinyl Butyral

Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap Recycling

Posted in Acrylic, Caprolactam, MMA, Nylon 6, Nylon 66, PA 6, PA 66 | Leave a comment

Caprolactam (Capro) and Nylon 6 (PA6) prices are softening in the Asia/China Markets

Posted on April 27, 2011 by

The price of prime Caprolactam (Capro) is finally starting to soften in the Asian market. Over the past two weeks we have seen Capro soften in price by $200/MT, and the price has continued to soften even more this week as well. Last week Capro was selling in China in the $3430/MT price range and falling. I have just returned from spending the past two weeks in China traveling to see our Nylon 6 customers, and the Asian market is definitely starting to show signs of slowing. The slowdown in Asia is being caused by a combination of the following factors. One the China Government is tightening credit in the private sector by increasing the interest rate that their Banks are now charging. The Second factor contributing to the current slowdown is that China Government has increased the cash reserve that the local Banks must hold, which is making it harder for some of our customers to access the funds that they have on deposit that is used to pay their normal operating expenses. The third factor is that the current feedstock and material price increases are supply driven and not demand driven, so most of our customers have just simply stopped buying material.

The recent Capro / Nylon 6 (PA-6) price increases are being driven by the plastic traders/brokers speculating on the PA6 market price continuing to go up month after month. I think that speculative profit taking without sales being driven by demand is over for the time being. Anyone that has product on the water to Asia should get ready for a downward price adjustment. Based on the Capro supply disruption from the tsunami in Japan, and the fact that Honeywell’s Capro plant in VA has been down for almost a month, you would think that both Capro and PA6 prices would continue to rise. But they are not, Capro / PA6 prices are actually starting to soften even with the current supply outages that I previously mentioned. Based on the current soft market conditions get ready for additional price softening for both products.

Basic chemicals and feedstocks are softening across the board in China. This should lead to all plastic material prices softening in the Asian markets. I cannot speak about what is going to happen with material prices in the USA, because our domestic supply is being manipulated by the US polymer producers keeping supply tight in this country. I realize that by only having a few large producers for each type of polymer those markets will achieve a better economy of scale, but the down side is once they start manipulating (tightening) supply we are all paying higher prices for the goods that we are buying. Unfortunately the capital investment that it takes to enter into the chemicals market is so great don’t expect to see any new players in our domestic basic chemicals markets in the near future. Personally I thought this is what we had anti-trust laws for in America.

That is why I say, that as much as we like to hate Asian suppliers it will be cheaper plastic from the Middle East and China that will finally bring true competitiveness back into the USA polymer markets. Why is prime PP selling in China for $.63/lb. at this time, when the price in the USA for the same prime PP material is well above $.90/lb.? Please feel free to send me an email and tell me if I am wrong.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon 66 (PA66) and Nylon 6 (PA6) materials for sale;

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Off-GradeTextile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Off-grade Pellets w/ up to .02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrind from Lump/Chunk

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Dualloy Sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer production waste.

PA6 Kettle Bottoms

PA6 Capro Residue

PA6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices

Dualloy purchases / sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged / Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide Specification, Off-grade Pellets

Clean uniform plastic regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

See us on Facebook at the following pages:

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd.

Nylon 66 Plastic Sales

Nylon 6 (PA 6) Plastic Sales

Nylon 66 Plastic Recycling Company

PVB Plastic Recycling – Polyvinyl Butyral

Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap Recycling

Posted in Caprolactam, China Market, Nylon 6 | 1 Comment

Caprolactam (Capro) reaches $3620-$3630/MT in Asia /China Nylon 6 Market

Posted on April 4, 2011 by

The price of prime Caprolactam (Capro) is now trading above $3620/MT ($1.642/lb.) delivered in the Asian market for April shipments. This once again is a historically high price for prime Capro that is being driven by the supply disruption in Japan, along with Honeywell’s, Hopewell, VA Capro plant being down due to a shortage of material feedstock. Honeywell has declared force majeure on Capro due the supply chain disruption caused by Sunonco declaring force majeure in cumene. Cumene is the feedstock used to make Phenol, which is then used to make Nylon 6. This of course is not good for the average prime Nylon 6 buyer, because this situation is pushing the price of prime material at $1.55/lb. or higher in the USA market. Most domestic Nylon 6 producers are getting the higher prices that they are demanding for prime pellets, or else the will just flake the Capro and sell the material in the Asian market.

I think that the Nylon 6 prices will only stay elevated as long as there are problems in the feedstock supply chain. We are seeing the shops in China starting to slow down once again, due to a slowing market, and the Central Government’s tightening of the money supply and credit in China. Their housing market is out of control, and will have a price correction in the not too distant future. The Chinese Central Government does not want to see their housing market collapse like ours did starting in 2008. So they have increased their interest rates on home loans to slow down the speculative growth in their domestic housing market. At the same time the Central Government is making the Banks maintain a healthy cash reserve that is impacting the average company’s ability to borrow money and pay their bills.

In China most business is done on a cash basis. Our customers come to inspect the Nylon 66 and Nylon 6 materials in our warehouse. Then they pay cash for the material that they are buying, and send their truck in to pick up the material. Now some of our customers are having trouble getting THEIR CASH out of the Bank of China to purchase material, because the Banks are holding the customers money so it does not go below the set cash reserve. So with the money supply getting tighter in China, as business is starting to slow down again, Nylon 6 prices will fall once world Capro production ends the current force majeure supply situation. The price of Nylon 6 is over heated in today’s market, and should correct once Capro supply returns to normal due to the slowing market in China and the world.

The Nylon 66 market still shows no signs of softening at this time as well. Both of the domestic PA66 producers are sold out, and material feedstock prices only seem to keep going up. The price of reactor grade Propylene is up again in April, so this should drive up Ascend’s price for Nylon 66 feedstock. With both domestic producers in a sold out situation I don’t see the price of PA-66 softening any time soon.

When are the price increases going to stop? Once the US economy goes into anther tail spin? When the price of prime Polypropylene Homopolymer gets to $.93/lb. or higher for truck load quantities something is out of line here, or am I the one that is missing something. Two things are going to happen with today’s current plastics market. One – The major polymer producers are going to drive the price of materials up so high that it is going to slow the growth in our domestic economy. Two – The current high prices for plastic feedstock / polymers is going to open the door for more Asian imports of plastic into the US market. We all must not forget when ABS was $1.50/lb. or higher in the USA until Chi Mei entered the game. Then is seems that the price of prime ABS went down to around $.90/lb. for prime ABS resin from Taiwan. Everyone likes to hate the Asian producers for low prices, but their imports will force the US domestic polymer producers prices down to come in line with the world market.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon (PA6) and Nylon 66 (PA 66 materials for sale:

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Pellets

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste.

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide-Specification Pellets

Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

Posted in Caprolactam, Nylon 66, Nylon 66 Resin Prices | Leave a comment

Talk about “March Madness” prime Caprolactam (CPL) reaches $3520-$3560/MT in China

Posted on March 23, 2011 by

The price of prime Caprolactam (CPL) is now trading above $3500/MT delivered in the Asian market. This is a historically high price for prime CPL that is being driven by Broker/Traders speculating on continued price increases for the product. The contract price for prime CPL settled in between $3520 – $3560/MT ($1.597-$1.615/lb.) for the month of March, 2011. We feel this price increase is still being driven in China by the Traders/Brokers, because we do not see enough demand in the Asian PA6 market to support the latest CPL price increase. Our big concern at this time is that we are starting to see the factories in China starting to slow down again, as they did in early 2008 before the correction that started in October of that year.

Another factor that is going to affect the Nylon 6 market in the short run is the disaster in Japan. Japan produces about 25% of the CPL that is sold in Taiwan, and 13-15% of the CPL that is sold in China. The plants in Japan are down at this time due to disruptions in the supply chain, a lack of power to run the plants, and delays in their transportation system. In the short run this means that prime CPL prices will most likely go up again in April, and may even reach the $3700/MT ($1.678/lb.) price level. This is not good news, because at some price point in time the manufacturers around the world will stop buying Nylon 6 until they start to see some price softening. The Japanese CPL supply disruption may only be a 60-90 day scenario, but it is going to have a drastic impact on the price of prime Nylon 6 in the short run.

At this point I do not see the price of Nylon 6 softening in Q2 2011 as I have previously mentioned. Based on the March contract price for CPL large buyers of prime Nylon 6 are now paying somewhere north of $1.50/lb. for material in the USA. It costs the average PA6 producer around $.08-$.10/lb. to polymerize the CPL and make pellets, so your guess is a good as mine as to where Nylon 6 prices will go in April / May if CPL increases to $3700/MT. We are actually buying all of the WS PA6 that we can at this time, because we think prices will only increase again in April due to the for mentioned crisis in Japan.

The Nylon 66 market still shows no signs of softening at this time as well. Both of the domestic PA66 producers are sold out, and material feedstock prices only seem to keep going up. The price of Butadiene has gone through the roof due to tight world supply, which may lead to another round of price increase in the secondary PA66 market. Get ready guys inflation is at our front door and starting to show its ugly face, which will only have a negative impact on our already fragile US economy.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market has started to stabilize somewhat in the USA, and scrap prices may actually stay flat for 30-60 days. Depending on what the price of Acetone does in the domestic market it will determine if we see the price of MMA / PMMA increase in the short run.

Dualloy currently has the following Nylon (PA6) and Nylon 66 (PA 66 materials for sale:

Nylon 66 Bright w/HS Pellets

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Nylon 6 Nat w/HS– Wide spec (off-grade) Pellets

Low to medium viscosity, 5% monomer, heat stabilized. The material has moisture issues, and it might have a few black specs and bad cut pellets. The material is in unsealed poly liners.

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Dualloy sells the following types of low end Caprolactam / Nylon 6 waste.

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide-Specification Pellets

Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

Posted in Acrylic, Caprolactam, Nylon 6, Nylon 66, PA 66, PA6, PMMA | Leave a comment

Nylon 66 (PA66) and Nylon 6 (PA6) prices continue to increase in February 2011

Posted on March 1, 2011 by

The price of both Nylon 66 and Nylon 6 wide specification (WS) pellets and scrap was up again in February 2011. There are currently several factors driving these world wide price increases for commodities and plastics. Of course the main factor driving all of the price increases is the emerging markets in India and China. The price of cotton is at the highest level it has been since 1870 during the Civil War. The contract price for a pound of cotton is around $1.198/lb., with cotton futures trading in the $1.936/lb. price range at this time. (Please see the attached Wall Street Journal article.)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704300604575554210569885910.html

With Oil hovering around $98/ barrel this price will continue to drive up, or support the current high cost of all plastic feedstocks and intermediaries. Between the high price of cotton and oil it is putting pricing pressure on all synthetic fibers (PA66, PA6, PET), and will support the current PA66, PA6 pricing levels through mid-2011.

The price of Nylon 66 WS pellets was up in February, and we are expecting to see another $.05/lb. increase in March. Invista has declared force majeure due to the cold weather in Texas, which has caused outages at their PA66 intermediary plants in Orange and Victoria. All of Invista’s prime customers are on allocation due to the tight supply of material feedstocks. Ascend had announced a $.15/lb. price increase for February, and we expect to see them follow up with a $.05-$.06/lb price increase in March. Rhodia is still under force majeure in Europe, so don’t expect to see the price of PA66 start to soften any time soon.

Caprolactam (CPL) was selling in China on contract in the $3220/MT range in February, with traders driving the price as high as $3500/MT. The high price of CPL is going to keep the price of Nylon 6 up in the short run, because the domestic CPL producers would rather make flake and send it to China if they cannot get over $1.40/lb. for their prime PA6 resins in the USA market. The PA6 market is over heated at this time, but does not show any signs of letting up in the short run. We still think that the PA6 market will soften before mid-2011.

Acrylic (PMMA) is continuing to go up in price like all other plastic materials. We have just been asked for a $.02/lb. price increase for the PMMA scrap and regrinds that we are currently buying on a monthly basis. The USA MMA producers have declared force majeure due to the 3 days of extreme cold weather along the Texas Gulf Coast in February. The contract price of MMA is around $.82-$.84/lb. ($1800/MT), with MMA selling in the spot market around $.95/lb. ($2100/MT) in late February. Most of the domestic PMMA producers are back to running close to capacity due to stronger export sales in 2010 and early 2011. We expect to see this market to be more stable in 2011 with PMMA scrap prices staying at their current levels, or moving slightly higher as the year progresses.

Please see the Nylon 66 below that we currently have available for sale/ delivery in March 2011.

  1. 2 loads Nylon 66 dull wide spec pellets
  2. 2 loads Nylon 66 semi dull pellets
  3. 2 loads Nylon 66 bright regrind
  4. 2 loads Nylon 66 semi dull or mixed luster regrind,
  5. 1 load Nylon 66 mixed luster pellets with possible black specs
  6. 1 load Nylon 66 wet sweeps
  7. 1 load Nylon 66 dry sweeps
  8. 4 loads Nylon 6 Prime 2.7 RV pellets

Please let me know if your compounding division has an interest in purchasing any of the material listed above. All prices are subject to change without notice. All materials offered are subject to prior sale.

Dualloy is looking to increase our supply of Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap that is generated from manufacturing bathroom products, sanitary ware, automobiles, and from window locks/latches.

Dualloy purchases all types of scrap from Chrome Plating Plastics, and are looking for more suppliers of baled and crushed materials.

Dualloy Purchases the following Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap:

Sanitary Ware / Bathroom Products

Automotive: Mirrors, Trim, Grills, Door Handles

Window Locks / Latches

Please give us a call is you have Chrome Plated plastic scrap and waste that you need to sell.

Dualloy also purchases the following types of wide specification pellets and plant scrap.

Nylon 66 (PA 66) Polyamide 66

Nylon 6 (PA 6) Polyamide 6

Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB)

Acrylic (PMMA)

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste.

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Nylon 6 Washwater

Nylon 6 Washwater/Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide-Specification Pellets

Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Dualloy has the following Nylon materials available for sale:

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

Posted in Caprolactam, Charome Plated, Nylon 6, Nylon 66, PA 6, PA66, PMMA | Leave a comment

Dualloy wants your CHROME PLATED PLASTIC Scrap for collection and recycling

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

Dualloy Engineering Polymers Ltd. is a plastic recycling company with our main office in Hong Kong. Dualloys’ USA sales and purchasing office is located in Houston, TX, and we have a sales office and warehouse in Guangzhou, China. Our goal is to develop long term supply relationships with the polymer manufacturing companies around the world to purchase their wide specification pellets and plant scrap /waste. We ship all of the materials that we purchase to our warehouse in the USA or South China for inspection and sorting by material grade or type. Then Dualloy markets the materials that we purchase to end use plastic processing companies in Asia and the USA.

Dualloy is a plastic scrap recycler looking to increase our supply of Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap that is generated from manufacturing bathroom products, sanitary ware, automobile parts, and from window locks/latches.

We purchase all types of scrap from Chrome Plating Plastics, and are looking for more suppliers of baled and crushed materials.

Dualloy Purchases the following Chrome Plated Plastic Scrap:

Sanitary Ware / Bathroom Products

Automotive: Mirrors, Trim, Grills, Door Handles

Window Locks / Latches

Please give us a call is you have Chrome Plated plastic scrap and waste that you need to sell.

Dualloy also purchases and sells the following types of plastic wide specification pellets and plant scrap.

Nylon 66 (PA 66) Polyamide 66

Nylon 6 (PA 6) Polyamide 6

Polyvinyl Butyral (PVB)

Acrylic (PMMA)

We currently has for sale the following Nylon 66 Materials:

2 loads Nylon 66 dull wide spec pellets

2 loads Nylon 66 semi dull pellets

2 loads Nylon 66 bright regrind

2 loads Nylon 66 semi dull or mixed luster regrind,

1load Nylon 66 mixed luster pellets with possible black specs

1 load Nylon 66 wet sweeps

1 load Nylon 66 dry sweeps

4 loads Nylon 6 Prime 2.7 RV pellets

All prices are subject to change without notice. All materials offered are subject to prior sale.

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Nylon 6 Washwater

Nylon 6 Washwater/Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide-Specification Pellets

Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Dualloy has the following Nylon materials available for sale:

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Please feel free to contact me at: jamesgubera@dualloy.com

Posted in Charome Plated | Leave a comment

Caprolactam reaches a new historically high selling price of $3330/MT in the China market

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

The Chinese Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) is now over, and most of the businessmen have returned back to work this week. Most of the factories in China are still closed for one more week, and will not start back up until after February 16th. What will be interesting to see will be, when the factories actually start going back to work in China. This year we saw the factories closing 1-2 weeks early for the Spring Festival, and they started sending their employees home in late January. If the factories do not open back up next week, or ask the workers to come back to work soon, then this may be an indication that the Chinese economy is about to go through its own market correction.

The price of prime Caprolactam (CPL) is now trading above $3300/MT ($1.50/lb.) delivered in the Asian market. This is a historically high price for prime CPL that is being driven by Broker/Traders speculating on continued price increases for the product. The prime price of CPL is now over priced by at least $400-$450/MT, and should probably be selling more in the price range of $2800-$2850/MT in today’s market. This is why I started this blog discussing the current manufacturing climate in China. We see most of the factories in China fat with Nylon 6 inventory, which will allow them to stay out of the buying market until late February, or even early March. By the end of February most of the Traders/Brokers will be needing money, so they will start selling off their high priced CPL and Nylon 6 inventories to raise cash. The USA domestic suppliers of CPL and prime Nylon 6 resins have raised their prices to reflect the current world market conditions, but will be forced to come back to reality and lower their material prices, if the Chinese do not come back into the market by late February 2011. We expect to see Nylon 6 prices starting to soften by mid-March of this year. I would be cautious in taking a large inventory position on prime Nylon 6 in the first QTR 2011.

Several of the domestic Nylon 6 producers are selling their prime pellets at $1.40/lb. or higher for orders taken and shipped this month. Otherwise at this time it is in their advantage to flake the Caprolactam, and sell the prime CPL flake in the China market. Shaw and DSM are still priced under $1.40/lb. in the domestic market for prime Nylon 6 pellet sales shipped in February.

The Nylon 66 (PA 66) market on the other hand, continues to show signs of tightness in supply that will last until at least mid 2011. Both of the USA domestic Nylon 66 producers are in a sold out position, and are back to operating their polymer units at full capacity. Although both producers still have polymer lines idled since the slowdown in 2009, don’t expect to see an increase in domestic PA 66 capacity in the first half of this year. Rhodia is still having problems at their facility in Europe, and the Rhine River was closed for several weeks in January due to a sunken barge. Both of these factors have kept the Nylon 66 market tight in Europe, and allowed the producers to keep the material prices up in the world market. We expect to see Nylon 66 supply snug in the first half of 2011, and prices to stay at their current level or move up slightly higher. Dualloy experienced a $.02-$.03 price increase on the PA 66 wide specification and regrind materials that we purchased in January 2011 over our December 2010 material prices.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market continues to be strong in early 2011 as well. Like everything else, the price of PMMA scrap continues to increase. The latest price increase is currently being driven by the strong demand for Acetone in the Polypropylene (PP) market. As long as PP continues to sell at historic highs, expect the price of any Acetone based product to increase as well. Since you need acetone to make MMA, the backbone of Acrylic, I am sure there will be price increases announced for prime PMMA in the near future. Dualloy is currently paying over $.53/lb. in the domestic market for mixed color PMMA scrap for monomer extraction. This is the highest price that I have paid for PMMA scrap for monomer recovery since entering into the export business in 1995.

In my last blog posting I had stated wrong the price increase of $.15/lb. being announced by Ascend. Rhodia has announced a $.15/lb. price increase for prime Nylon, and I expect to see Ascend announce an increase for Nylon 66 as well. Ascend uses propylene in the PA 66 manufacturing process, and based on the recent price increases for polymer grade propylene their feedstock prices have had to increase. The recent propylene price increases have been so large, I am sure Ascend will have to pass some of the feedstock price increases on to their customers.

Announced Nylon 6 (PA 6) Price Increases:

Honeywell Jan 1st $.10/lb.

Feb 1st $.15/lb.

March 1st $.08/lb.

BASF Feb 1st $.08/lb.

Shaw Feb 1st $.08/lb.

Nylon 66 Price Increase:

Rhodia Feb 1st $.15/lb.

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste.

Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms

Nylon 6 Depoly Residue

Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste

Nylon 6 Washwater

Nylon 6 Washwater/Oligomer Waste

Call for MOQ and current material prices.

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.

Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets

Wide-Specification Pellets

Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds

Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties

Nylon Fiber Bales

Dualloy has the following Nylon materials available for sale:

Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets

Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets

Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets

Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2

Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind

Nylon 66 Bright Regrinds

Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural

Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

Posted in Acrylic, Caprolactam, Nylon 6, Nylon 66, PA 6, PA66, PMMA | Leave a comment

Nylon 66 and Nylon 6 prices are up in the 1st quarter of 2011

Posted on January 22, 2011 by

Nylon 66 (PA 66) and Nylon 6 (PA 6) prices are both up in January 2011. I think that we have reached another historic high in pricing for both products, and that both markets will remain strong through the first half of 2011. In China Caprolactam (CPL) is trading at over $3020/MT for January, while the contract price for prime CPL is in the $2940-$2960/MT range for the month. Most of the major USA PA 6 producers have announced price increases for February that will stick, as long as China comes back into the market strong after the Chinese New Year in early February. With the latest round of announced increases expect to see the price of prime Nylon 6 pellets move into the $1.40/lb. range and above for large volume buyers. The main factors driving these current increases are that the demand for both tire cord, and drawn fiber have continued to be strong in China. The Nylon 6 price will soften sometime in early 2011, because the price of CPL should be selling somewhere around $2600/MT. The current market condition is partially due to traders speculating on continued price increases in the CPL market.

The Nylon 66 market continues to be strong as well in early 2011. 2010 was a year of continuous price increases in the cost of wide-specification Nylon 66 pellets and fibers, and I think 2011 will be another year of strong demand and higher prices for the material. Both of the domestic PA 66 producers are increasing their capacity this year, but don’t look for the increased volume to cause a drop in price. Both producers are in a sold out position for the first half of 2011, so there will not be any excess capacity in this market until after mid-2011 at the earliest. Ascend has announced a $15/lb. price increase for prime PA 66, so I am sure that we will see Invista follow suit and increase their PA 66 prices as well.

I think that you will see the price of wide-specification PA 66 pellets increase as much as the price of prime pellets. Both of the domestic PA 66 producers are using more of their own scrap back into internal added valued compounding programs, which is removing large volumes of both good wide- specification pellets and baled fibers out of the secondary market. This will tighten the supply of wide- specification pellets in the USA domestic market, which will narrow the gap between the price of prime Nylon 66 and wide specification Nylon 66 pellets this year. Expect to see the price of Nylon 66 to remain firm (or higher) in the first half of 2011.

The Acrylic (PMMA) market continues to be strong in early 2011 as well. Like everything else, the price of PMMA scrap continues to increase. The latest price increase is currently being driven by the strong demand for Acetone in the Polypropylene (PP) market. As long as PP continues to sell at historic highs, expect the price of any Acetone based product to increase as well. Since you need acetone to make MMA, the backbone of Acrylic, I am sure there will be price increases announced for prime PMMA in the near future. Dualloy is currently paying over $.53/lb. in the domestic market for mixed color PMMA scrap for monomer extraction. This is the highest price that I have paid for PMMA scrap for monomer recovery since entering into the export business in 1995.

Announced Nylon 6 Price Increases:
Honeywell Jan 1st $.10/lb.
Feb 1st $.15/lb.
Marc 1st $.08/lb.
BASF Feb 1st $.08/lb.
Shaw Feb 1st $.08/lb.

Nylon 66 Price Increase:
Ascend Feb 1st $.15/lb.

Dualloy sells the following types of Nylon 6 Polymer waste.
Nylon 6 Kettle Bottoms
Nylon 6 Depoly Residue
Nylon 6 Solidified Oligomer Waste
Nylon 6 Washwater
Nylon 6 Washwater/Oligomer Waste
Call for MOQ and current material prices.

Dualloy purchases/sells plastic resin and polymers in the following forms.
Aged/Obsolete Virgin Pellets
Wide-Specification Pellets
Clean uniform Plastic Regrinds
Reactor Lumps/Chunks/Patties
Nylon Fiber Bales

Dualloy has the following Nylon materials available for sale:
Nylon 66 Semi Dull Wide Spec Pellets
Nylon 66 Dull Second Quality Pellets
Nylon 66 Textile Bright Pellets
Nylon 66 Pellets w/ up to 0.02% TiO2
Nylon 66 Mixed Color Regrind
Nylon 66 Bright Regrinds
Nylon 66 Semi Dull / Mixed Luster Regrind

Prime Nylon 6 Pellets 2.7 RV – Natural
Packaged in 1,500# boxes

Please feel free to contact me at: JamesGubera@dualloy.com

Posted in Acrylic, Nylon 6, Nylon 66, PA66, PMMA | Leave a comment