Capacity expansion in the spandex market will peak in 2022 after experiencing prosperous cycle. Many new units will be launched in Q2. Supply of spandex may extend longer. The pandemic will impact the production, consumption and logistics.. Downstream production is expected to apparently recover after the spread of pandemic is eased. Some demand in Q3 may be pulled forward. Price of spandex 20D and 30D is estimated to extend lower after new units started production while downstream demand is anticipated to be hard to rise.

Supply of spandex turned to be longer in the first quarter of 2022 after being tight in 2021.The spandex capacity increased by 4.1 per cent to reach 1014.5kt/year at the end of first quarter in 2022.Price of spandex extended lower since Q4 2021 with cautious downstream procurement and increasing supply. The average operating rate of spandex plants declined to around 88.1 per cent in Q1, down by 3.2 percentage points compared with Q4 2021 and 6.9 percentage points on annual basis respectively. Some spandex plants cut more production near the Lunar New Year’s holiday with rapidly reducing spandex price and some plants in North China suspended production affected by the XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.