The 'Stabilizing Force' Amid Market Storms: Antai Textile Stands Firm at the Forefront of Acrylic Fiber with 32 Years of Accumulation and Innovation

In Zhangjiagang in July, the summer heat is intensifying, yet the 'heat' of the domestic acrylic fiber market is accompanied by uncertainties—rising acrylonitrile inventories, upcoming commissioning of new plants, and price fluctuation expectations triggered by international situations have put significant pressure on many textile enterprises. However, in the production workshop of Jiangsu Antai Textile, the roar of machines remains steady. Li Xiong, the Marketing Manager, is sorting out the latest customer orders with his team: 'The more volatile the market, the more it tests an enterprise's stability and predictive ability.' Founded in Zhangjiagang in 1993, this textile enterprise has evolved from initial single acrylic yarn production to now a comprehensive supplier covering acrylic yarn, acrylic tops, colored acrylic tops, and various fancy yarns. Thirty-two years of in-depth industry cultivation have endowed it with a unique 'volatility-resistant' gene amid market storms. 'We experienced the raw material price collapse during the 2008 financial crisis and weathered the cost surge under the 'dual carbon' policy in 2021. Each fluctuation is a test of an enterprise's comprehensive strength,' Li Xiong said with confidence, looking at the development timeline on the office wall. Recent market developments have long been incorporated into Antai Textile's 'battle plan.' 'We track acrylonitrile industry data every week,' Li Xiong pointed to the latest monitoring report, 'as of July 10, the acrylonitrile capacity utilization rate was 76.20%, weekly output was 83,100 tons, and inventory was 45,800 tons. Behind these figures are subtle changes in upstream supply.' He explained that an inventory increase of 3,000 tons indicates relatively sufficient short-term raw material market supply, and the company's procurement team has adjusted its strategy to adopt a 'small-batch, multi-frequency' procurement model, which avoids inventory backlogs while ensuring production continuity. Regarding the possible sharp price fluctuations in July—affected by multiple factors such as crude oil price volatility triggered by the Israel-Palestine conflict, unclear production plans of Jilin Chemical Fiber, and tariff negotiations between the United States and major economies—Li Xiong revealed that Antai has already launched a 'dual product strategy': on one hand, for basic acrylic yarns, it stabilizes costs by locking in some long-term orders with long-term cooperative raw material suppliers; on the other hand, it increases the promotion of colored acrylic tops and fancy yarns. 'For these high-value-added products, customers are less price-sensitive, and our pre-dyeing technology can help downstream enterprises save 30% of dyeing costs, making them more competitive during volatile periods.' In the production workshop, Factory Director Huang of the Production Department is monitoring real-time data on the intelligent control system. 'Market fluctuations have forced us to upgrade our processes,' he said with a smile. 'The intelligent production line invested in last year can automatically adjust the proportion according to raw material components. For example, when the purity of acrylonitrile fluctuates, the system will complete parameter optimization within 15 minutes to ensure yarn strength and evenness.' Regarding the 260,000-ton acrylonitrile plant of Jilin Petrochemical, which is scheduled to start production at the end of July, Director Huang added: 'We have already connected with their technical team in advance. The raw material indicators of the new plant are more stable, and our production line has completed adaptive debugging. After commissioning, raw material supply will not only be more sufficient, but quality fluctuations will also be smaller, which is a major benefit for us to improve the color difference control accuracy of colored acrylic tops.' In Antai Textile's sample room, rows of brightly colored acrylic tops and fancy yarns are neatly arranged, ranging from mohair-style bulky yarns to slub yarns and bamboo joint yarns, with over 200 varieties. 'These are all 'weapons' prepared to cope with market changes,' Li Xiong picked up a roll of mint-green colored acrylic top. 'For example, this one is pre-dyed with environmentally friendly dyes. Downstream customers can directly spin it, eliminating the dyeing process, which reduces costs and emissions. Orders for this product have increased by 40% year-on-year this year.' Over the past 32 years, adhering to the philosophy of 'stable quality through technology, winning market through service,' Antai Textile has accumulated more than 500 stable customers, including the well-known domestic apparel brand 'Fashion Textile' and 'Youshang Knitting' which exports to Japan and South Korea. As Li Xiong said: 'The market will always have fluctuations, but customers' demand for stable quality and innovative products is constant.' Amid the storms of the acrylic fiber market, Antai Textile is anchoring itself on 32 years of accumulation and injecting 'stable' strength into the industry through technological innovation and flexible layout.