Mr. Niu Shizhen from Xinfengming, delivered a speech of Polyester feedstock and PSF market development trends.

The presentation includes changes in the pattern of polyester raw materials PX and PTA, new changes in the development of PSF market and the outlook for the polyester industry.

In terms of the chemical fiber market: China's total chemical fiber output growth rate has declined. In the past five years, the compound annual growth rate of output has been 6.6%. Polyester accounts for 83% of chemical fibers. PFY and PSF have driven the growth of chemical fiber exports, with year-on-year increase of more than 20%. Total chemical fiber exports in 2023 were 6.507 million tons, accounting for 9.5% of total output.

In terms of polyester raw materials, the changes in the market structure of PX and PTA were elaborated. In recent years, with the continuous innovation of technology and the lowering of investment thresholds, the oligopoly pattern in the upstream sector of the polyester industry chain has become more obvious, mainly dominated by six leading companies. PTA's average annual capacity growth rate has dropped to 8.7%, and it is expected that PTA's future rebalancing will appropriately rely on exports.

Regarding PSF market, it was pointed out that the market has undergone significant changes in recent years, especially in spunlace fiber, vortex-spun fiber and high-strength cotton-type fiber. Xinfengming Group's new projects at its Huzhou and Xuzhou bases have significantly increased PSF capacity, which is expected to reach 10.13 million tons/yr by the end of 2024. The introduction of new equipment and processes, such as fully automatic packaging production lines and three-dimensional intelligent warehousing systems, has improved production efficiency and product quality.

In the outlook section, the speech highlights the future development direction of the polyester industry, including improving technical efficiency, reducing production costs and environmental emissions, and developing differentiated textile materials. The report also mentioned that as the production growth of PX and PTA slows down, the upstream of Chinese polyester industry chain will gradually stabilize, and it is expected to rely more on localization and technological innovation in the future.