Cost Benefits Boost Polyester Staple Fiber Market to a Strong Start

February 24th, News

According to the commodity market analysis system, the Chinese polyester staple fiber market has gotten off to a good start. As of February 24, the average market price for Chinese polyester staple fiber (1.4D*38mm) was 6,668 CNY per ton, an increase of 1.39% from the previous trading day.

During the Spring Festival holiday, crude oil prices showed a strong performance, providing favorable support to the cost end. The market remains concerned about the uncertainty of U.S.-Iran relations, coupled with the lack of substantive progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. During the Spring Festival, international oil prices rose. On February 19, WTI and Brent crude oil futures closed up 4.59% and 4.35%, respectively. On February 20, the two oils hit $67.03 and $71.66 per barrel during the day, reaching new highs in nearly half a year, with a cumulative price increase of over 5% over the two days.

The PTA market followed the upward trend; on February 24, the spot price of PTA in the East China region reached 5,324 CNY per ton, up 2.76% from the previous trading day. During the holiday period, Yisheng New Materials’ 3.6-million-ton PTA plant was temporarily shut down on February 24 for unforeseen reasons and is currently undergoing recovery. With the industry’s capacity utilization rate hovering around 70%, the pace of PTA inventory accumulation has slowed down. As of 2026, China has no plans to commission any new PTA plants, marking the start of a “window period” during which the industry’s capacity expansion will come to a halt. Meanwhile, the expansion of downstream polyester continues unabated, and the market is expected to move toward a tighter supply-demand balance.

The end-market remains in holiday mode, with the operating rates of the spinning, weaving, and dyeing industries plummeting to just 10% or even lower ahead of the holidays. However, as the Spring Festival holiday comes to an end, strong expectations for the “Golden March and Silver April” period remain. In early March, Chinese textile and apparel companies will resume production and operations on a concentrated scale, and end-market orders are expected to gradually pick up, driving a steady increase in the utilization rates of yarn mills and, consequently, boosting rigid demand procurement for polyester staple fibers.

Analysts believe that crude oil prices have remained strong during the holiday. In the short term, oil prices will still be dominated by supply disruptions and geopolitical risks. Recently, with supply disruptions not yet fully subsided, escalating geopolitical risks, and strong expectations of OPEC pausing production increases, oil prices are expected to experience wide fluctuations. As end-user enterprises gradually resume production, the operating rates are recovering, leading to some demand for restocking raw materials. It is expected that the price of polyester staple fiber will remain relatively strong in the short term.