Japan's printing and dyeing industry "big earthquake"! The price of dyes has risen by 30%, and processing fees cannot be passed on!

In Japan, the wholesale price of dyes for fiber printing is rising. The representative varieties used in clothing rose by 30% from April and by 5 to 60% over the same period of the previous year. The largest raw material country in China's raw material factory exploded in March. Local governments stepped up inspections and the surrounding factories stopped operating. Coupled with environmental policy-based controls, the supply of China has been reduced. Japan's dye processing companies face rising costs

The price rose by 30%

From the representative dyes used in clothing, China accounts for nearly 70% of world production. The wholesale price of black dye as an indicator is 2,200-2,600 yen per kilogram. It rose by 30% in May alone, and then stayed high.

The reason is the explosion at the raw material factory in Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province. It is reported that about 80 people died as a result of the open flame in the factory igniting the boiler fuel gas. The plant was shut down after the accident. Yancheng City and the adjacent Lianyungang City began inspections, and the surrounding factories also stopped operations. There is a view that due to the need to take measures to prevent recurrence of accidents, it will not be possible to restart work until the end of the year.

The blasting factory previously produced blue and red dye materials from the three primary colors. A dye company said that "the blue and black dyes made of blue are also in short supply."

In addition to ordinary clothing, dyes for work clothes rose by 3 to 50% compared to 2018. Some dyes even rose to 2.5 times. Dyes for interior materials such as automobiles have also increased by 1% to 20% compared to 2018.

In China, due to the impact of environmental protection policies, the supply of dyes has been reduced. In April 2018, some SME factories were exposed to sewage discharge standards that did not meet the standards. It is reported that relevant departments have stepped up verification and about 200 factories in Lianyungang's industrial park have been shut down. The work resumed after October, but the supply decreased again due to the explosion.

The demand for dyes for fibers and the like has remained strong worldwide. The production of chemical fiber in 2017 was 68 million tons, an increase of 15% over 2013. Although many views suggest that China's economic slowdown is leading to a decline in fabric production, the supply of dyes and the high price trend are expected to continue for some time.

Processing fee cannot be passed on

Dyeing and processing companies in Japan are plagued by increased dye costs. According to people in the fiber field, "the purchase cost has increased by 20% before the explosion in China." Komatsu MATERE, a large company, procured dyes for sportswear from China, and the company worried that “the purchase price will rise in the future”.

In China, dye companies form a monopoly with 6 to 7 companies. On a global scale, there are only three to four large companies in Germany and Switzerland.

On the other hand, dyeing companies charge processing fees to fiber companies, process fabrics and return products. In the face of fiber companies with foundries in China and abroad, the price negotiation of dyeing and processing enterprises is not strong, and it is difficult to pass the cost increase to the processing fee.

Osaka dyeing factory (Osaka, Shimamoto-cho)

Osaka dyeing workers dyed the camouflage uniforms of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, and the company’s president, Hashimoto Hiroshi, said that “the rising cost of other materials, including the other materials, can only be passed on less than half”. He also said that he will speed up the substitution of other categories to replace the huge increase in categories, but "must ensure that the color will not change", it is difficult to solve by ordinary methods.