Spandex market performs well in Q1-Q3

Listed spandex companies, including Huafon Chemical Fiber, Xinxiang Chemical Fiber and Tayho New Material, announced their performance report for the first three quarters of 2021 in late-Oct.

Performance of listed spandex companies

Huafon Chemical is mainly engaged in the R&D, production and sales of polyurethane products such as spandex fiber, polyurethane solution, adipic acid and so on. According to the third-quarter announcement issued by Huafon Chemical on the evening of October 25th, the net profit attributed to shareholders of listed companies was 2.28 billion yuan in the third quarter, a sharp increase of 295.0% over the same period last year. The net profit attributed to shareholders of listed companies was 6.13 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2021, an increase of 393.6% over the same period last year.

The main products of Xinxiang Chemical Fiber are spandex fiber and viscose filament. According to the forecast of Xinxiang Chemical Fiber performance in the third quarter, the net profit attributed to the shareholders of the listed company in the third quarter was 492-562 million yuan, which improved significantly, while the company's net profit in the third quarter of last year was a loss of 3.09 million. The company expected to achieve a net profit of 1.23-1.3 billion yuan from January to September, an increase of 47.46% and 5022% over the same period last year.

The main products of Tayho New Materials are spandex, para-aramid and m-aramid. According to the report released by Tayho New Materials for the first three quarters of 2021, the company realized a net profit of 290 million yuan belonging to shareholders of listed companies in the third quarter, an increase of 398.7% over the same period last year. During the reporting period, the company realized operating income of 3.28 billion, an increase of 94.77% over the same period last year; the net profit belonging to shareholders of listed companies was 731 million yuan, up 301% from the same period last year.

How about the performance of the whole spandex industry in the first three quarters of 2021? The followings are some points noteworthy:

Price

Spandex prices kept increasing in 2021 and the increment outpaced that of other raw materials of textiles and apparels with tight supply. Spandex market remained sellers’market now. Price of spandex 20D, 30D and 40D rose by 122%, 98% and 106% respectively in Q1-Q3, 2021.

Soaring spandex prices were mainly supported by strong demand. Sales of sportswear, yoga clothes, sun-proof apparels and sport underwear were popular. Demand from mask and protective clothes sustained. In addition, stocks of dralon fabrics, fabric for thermal leggings and super-soft fabrics reduced apparently last week. Downstream buyers replenished in advance this year. Exports of spandex also surged. However, new spandex capacity was very small in 2021. The mismatch between supply and demand greatly pushed up spandex price.

Cash flow

The average cash flow of BDO-PTMEG-spandex chain started improving apparently since the fourth quarter of 2020 and kept expanding in the first three quarters of this year. Around 80% of PTMEG plants are accompanied by BDO production. The cash flow of BDO plants obviously grew stimulated by demand from PTMEG, PBT and PBAT sectors and that of PTMEG also increased apparently on the year, with profit of PTMEG averaged at 2,677yuan/mt in Jan-Sep, 2021.

As for the average cash flow of spandex 40D, it was at 11,836yuan/mt, 16,104yuan/mt and 26,110yuan/mt respectively in Q1-Q3, which climbed up apparently from the same period of last year. Spandex 15D, 20D, 30D and some differential products were more lucrative. In generally, spandex industry saw obviously higher profitability year to date compared with the corresponding period of last year.