The Chinese carpet yarn manufacturer Zhejiang Sitong New Material Technology Co., Ltd. is expanding its polyester capacities with an Oerlikon Neumag BCF system of the BCF S+ type. With the additional four BCF S+ positions for polyester yarn, Sitong aims to respond to the trend towards polyester carpet yarns. It is stated that in the future, the company will use them to produce balanced BCF yarns made of polyester, polyamide 6 and polypropylene. With a total capacity of 50,000 tons per year, the company from Hangzhou is one of the largest BCF yarn manufacturers in Asia.
“For polyester production, we only consider Oerlikon Neumag plants”
Tang Liang, president and owner of Sitong expressed that their strategy is a broad portfolio, noting this makes them more robust in the face of trends and market fluctuations. “Since our foundation in 2002, we have relied on technology from Europe; for polyester production, we only consider Oerlikon Neumag plants. We have established ourselves with our quality products in both the local and international markets; this shows that we have made the right investment decisions,” Liang said.
The new BCF S+ Monocolor plant is designed for polyester yarn production, but it also produced significant data during the production of polyamide 6 yarn during the commissioning process. The ability to quickly switch to the cost-effective production of high-quality PA6 yarn gives Sitong a significant competitive advantage. Liang pointed out that trends are becoming increasingly short-lived; “However, investing in a plant is a long-term decision. So it is a strong argument if I can spin different polymers with the same system without sacrificing the quality of the end product,” he commented.
Carpet market in Asia is gaining in importance
The Asian carpet market is currently experiencing noticeable growth. While the focus of carpet yarn production has been in the US and Türkiye so far, Chinese BCF yarn production in particular is experiencing a significant increase in the post-corona years. The reasons are stated on the one hand, to the strengthening of the Chinese automotive sector and, on the other, to the resurgence in travel. Sun Peng, Sales Director at Oerlikon Neumag in China pointed out that many hotels are currently being renovated and new ones are being built and said that during the pandemic, many hotels were closed, but now there is a significant backlog demand.”