Weakness in raw materials: Recently, the PA6 market has slightly declined

1、 Market Review
In the past week (May 4-10), the PA6 market has shown a weak and volatile trend, with weakened cost support and continued weak supply and demand patterns. According to the monitoring of Shengyi Society, the benchmark price of PA6 has been declining from 13400 yuan/ton in early May to 13200 yuan/ton on May 10th, a decrease of about 1.49%. In the 18th week of 2026 (May 4th to May 8th), PA6 led the engineering plastics sector with a weekly decline of -0.75%.
2、 Cause analysis
From a cost perspective, the high price of core raw material caprolactam has loosened, and cost support has weakened. Since late April, the market for caprolactam has fallen from a high level. The weekly closing price of Sinopec Caprolactam decreased by 150 yuan/ton to 13650 yuan/ton compared to the previous period; On May 8th, Hualu Hengsheng lowered the price of caprolactam by 250 yuan/ton to 12300 yuan/ton. The average weekly spot price of caprolactam in East China is 12350 yuan/ton.
From the perspective of supply and demand, the supply is relatively loose while the demand remains weak. The overall operating rate of PA6 equipment is at a high level, and manufacturers have a strong willingness to ship. “Real order negotiations” are common, and the actual transaction price is often lower than the quoted price. However, the downstream textile and chemical fiber industry has a low acceptance of high priced raw materials, and procurement is mainly based on “just in need replenishment and on-demand procurement”, without centralized stockpiling. The trading atmosphere is cautious, resulting in a sluggish overall market trading.
3、 Short term outlook
Overall, the short-term PA6 market is expected to maintain a narrow consolidation and weak oscillation pattern, and there may be a slight downward shift in the price center. If there is no new price increase catalyst on the raw material side and there is no significant improvement in terminal orders, it is difficult for the market to have a reversal momentum.