[bratticus]

Price increases in polyester
Rising oil prices, cotton shortages and increased demand are driving unusual price increases in polyester.
By Lynn Keillor / Specialty Fabrics Review / June 2011

For years, the primary indicator of polyester fiber or filament cost was the fluctuation in petroleum prices. If the price of a barrel of oil increased, so did the price per pound of the base synthetic ingredient: polyester staple fiber (PSF).

“This last eight months has been different,” says Alasdair Carmichael, president of the Americas division of the U.K.-based PCI Fibres. “Oil has been increasing, but the rate of increase at the fiber level has been greater than the increase at the oil level.” A new factor has come into play in the past year, and it’s surprised industry watchers. The price increases this year are demand-driven, Carmichael says, and the additional demand is due, in large part, to a shortage of cotton.

Synthetic fiber prices may seem to have very little connection to the natural fiber raw material market. However, a shortage of cotton has textile makers scrambling to continue production amidst rising raw material prices. In many cases they’re replacing cotton content with polyesters, creating more demand for synthetic fibers. As the demand increases, so do prices for everyone using polyester.

According to Carmichael, there has been a 45 percent price increase in the raw materials that make up polyester (purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG) pricing since March 2010, when the cost was $1,270 per metric ton; in March 2011, the cost was $1,832 per metric ton. In the fabric market, finished 1,000-denier polyester has increased 32 percent in price, he notes.

“We had forecasted raw material and polyester prices would be stable to down in 2010,” Carmichael says. “For nine months, we were exactly right. From January to September, the price of polyester was stable to down. Then everything changed. It was truly originated by the rising cotton prices, and people moving out of cotton where they could and substituting with polyester.”

... Crude oil prices may not be the driving factor at the moment, but neither are they absent from the equation. Oil prices have steadily increased, even as attention has shifted to cotton. Petroleum byproducts are a key ingredient in polyesters, and increased polyester demand means oil prices will continue to affect raw material pricing.

Brian Herington, president of North Carolina-based Performance Fibers, says the cost of raw materials, particularly petroleum-based paraxylene and MEG [mono ethylene glycol], is affecting his business. Crude oil, along with cotton, was behind an 8-cent PSF [Polyester Staple Fiber] increase at DAK in February.

With the BP Cooper River PTA plant out of commission since April due to tornado damage polyester will be impacted.

Platts is busy reporting about PET shortage and Wellman in force majeure but surely the PTA shortage will overflow into polyester.

[bratticus]

Details on April damage to Charleston, SC which is south of the BP Cooper River PTA plant.

Tornadoes, storms kill at least 18 in U.S. South
Reporting by Peggy Gargis in Birmingham, Alabama; Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C.; Ned Barnett in Raleigh, N.C.; and Tim Ghianni in Nashville, Tennessee; Jim Brumm in Wilmington, N.C. Writing by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Xavier Briand / Reuters / Apr 16, 2011

... The area south of downtown Raleigh was littered with snapped telephone poles, downed wires, broken glass and roofing debris.

... "It sounded like a train going by. The wind was going this way and then all the sudden it was going that way."

... "This system has clearly had the most intense severe storms of the early spring season," said Corey Mead, a meteorologist with the National Storm Prediction Center.

[basil_hayden]

Somebody call the 70's....

[PhebaAndThePilgrim]

OMG, no more leisure suits. How will I survive?

[WildRose]

I recently went to a Mark's Work Wearhouse intending to purchase some new cotton T-shirts. I was disappointed that all of the women's T's were no longer 100% cotton - they are a new blend, not sure how much polyester, but I didn't like them and left without buying. Cotton breathes so much better. At the time I figured it was a cost-saving measure because cotton is more expensive, but now I see the connection with the shortage of cotton, meaning more polyester is used, and now impending shortage of polyester.

[justinee]

I have a light gray polyester shirt that I want to use for a costume. Unfortunately, the shirt needs to be white for the costume. So the question I have is how do you turn a light gray polyester shirt white?
Thanks in advance!

[Tanada]

I recently went to a Mark's Work Wearhouse intending to purchase some new cotton T-shirts. I was disappointed that all of the women's T's were no longer 100% cotton - they are a new blend, not sure how much polyester, but I didn't like them and left without buying. Cotton breathes so much better. At the time I figured it was a cost-saving measure because cotton is more expensive, but now I see the connection with the shortage of cotton, meaning more polyester is used, and now impending shortage of polyester.

I received Underarmor winter wear for Christmas last December and the stuff turns out to be 100% fine weave polyester cloth. Very comfortable to wear and very warm for its thickness. I think the modern polyesters are made into much finer thread that is far more comfortable to wear, but given its insulating properties I wouldn't choose to wear it in the summer months.

[Outcast_Searcher]

I recently went to a Mark's Work Wearhouse intending to purchase some new cotton T-shirts. I was disappointed that all of the women's T's were no longer 100% cotton - they are a new blend, not sure how much polyester, but I didn't like them and left without buying. Cotton breathes so much better. At the time I figured it was a cost-saving measure because cotton is more expensive, but now I see the connection with the shortage of cotton, meaning more polyester is used, and now impending shortage of polyester.

Some people can't wear blends - it messes up their skin big time. My father became this way in his 60's. The way my skin is heading, I can see myself in my father's shoes in 15 years or so.

I don't care if blends are cheaper -- I sure hope the choice to buy 100% cotton shirts etc. doesn't go away or become too expensive.

[rockdoc123]

I think the modern polyesters are made into much finer thread that is far more comfortable to wear, but given its insulating properties I wouldn't choose to wear it in the summer months.

just don't stand by any open flames!

I have the experience of having lived through long distance running from before it became popular (70's) until recently (as far as old guy long distance running can be classified as the same). Back then the first good shoes were New Balance (there is an old Willie Nelson movie with him wearing a pair) but we all still ran in cotton. As time went on the synthetics took over until now if you try to buy any type of running kit at a store it is synthetic. The wicking characteristics are actually quite amazing and after a long run in hot weather your clothes actually don't weigh more than you do!

It's pretty instructive that petroleum and it's products really did some amazing things for us over the years. We certainly didn't need it (I ran marathons in cotton clothes quite comfortably) but they sure make things feel much better (I ran an ultra in synthetics in the mountains and am convinced that I would have quit with hypothermia had I been wearing cotton).

I guess it is all about what kind of lifestyle we think we should be able to live versus what kind of lifestyle we need to survive. I can live without synthetics....I already did for a few decades. Not sure the younger generation can deal with it though.