How direct-spun PSF reacts to the sudden Covid-19 pandemic in Jiangsu

The sudden outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province slows down the movement of the city.

As a major producing area of PSF, Jiangyin locates a lot of large direct-spun PSF plants like Huahong, Sanfagnxiang and Rongli Chemical Fiber. Of them, Huahong has shut down its 560kt/yr unit, Sanfangxiang whose running capacity is 320kt/yr now faces hard transportation and Rongli has postponed to restart its 150kt/yr unit. These plants take up about 15% of total direct-spun PSF capacity in China. In addition, Huaxicun with 410kt/yr, Xiangyang with 100kt/yr and Elite Color with 250kt/yr, which accounted for about 9% of total direct-spun PSF capacity are facing risks of lockdown.

Due to the shutdown of Huahong, the operating rate of direct-spun PSF moved down close to 55%.

However, the tight supply of Jiangyin improves the sales of PSF plants in Zhejiang and northern Jiangsu. Traders turned to Desai, Hengyi, Xinfengming and Sinopec for sources, spurring their sales ratio, and strengthening their intention to keep prices and increase PSF spread.

Looking from early May, direct-spun PSF gets favors to be strong, but as some units restart in mid- to late May, such as Yida’s another 20kt/yr unit, Yizheng Chemical Fiber’s 70kt/yr and Chuzhou Anxing’s 200kt/yr, direct-spun PSF will be burdened in supply side. In addition, if the pandemic spreads more widely, the plants in Jiangyin are expected to curtail production or shut down increasingly.