According to the forecast of CMAI of the American Chemical Market Association, China's strong demand for nylon 6 is driving the growth of this engineering polymer market. It is expected that by 2015, the annual average growth rate of nylon 6 demand will be close to 5%.
The association said: “The global growth trend of nylon 6 has been formed in recent years, mainly because the production of finished products has shifted from North America and other regions to China, making Northeast Asia the largest consumer market for nylon 6 today.â€
The CMAI pointed out that during the financial crisis, in order to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn, the Chinese government had introduced stimulus measures to boost domestic consumer demand for durable goods.
The association said: "China's demand for nylon 6 has grown much faster than capacity growth, causing China to import nylon 6 from abroad."
The CMAI said that the number of new capacity in the world is "slightly reduced" from the forecasted increase in global nylon 6 demand. According to its estimates, this may increase the operating rate of the plant slightly over the next five years.
It is predicted that from now until 2015, the global average demand for nylon 66 engineering resin will increase by nearly 6% annually.
CMAI believes there will be a market for new capacity, but it depends on the availability of intermediate materials.
In 2010, the global nylon 66 supply was constrained by the supply of raw materials, including the shortage of butadiene and the production of various major intermediates.
According to CMAI, the demand for nylon 66 resin in 2010 remained basically stable, and the demand and capacity gap was not as large as nylon 6.