What is Olympic mascot Bing Dwen Dwen made of?

The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games have officially opened on Feb 4, 2022, and Bing Dwen Dwen, the cute panda mascot, continues to be a smash hit. People are hard to get one so far. The producer in Nantong of Jiangsu Province says that the plant will resume operation earlier on Feb 8, to rush to deliver orders. Then, what is Bing Dwen Dwen made of?

For plush toys, hollow fibers are the major feedstock. Currently, hollow fiber in China is mainly the HC virgin PSF and HC re-PSF. HC virgin PSF is normally polymerized with PTA and MEG, partly with PET fiber chip. For HC re-PSF, the major feedstock is re-PET. The application field of the two is the same, for filling the toys, home textiles, apparels and furniture. Different with the solid PSF, HC re-PSF capacity takes a large proportion in hollow fiber, at around 75%. But with the solid waste ban and refining and chemical integration, HC virgin PSF with high profits and low capacity attracts polyester giants to start up new capacities. HC virgin PSF capacities continue to be expanded, squeezing the shares of HC re-PSF.

The capacity distribution of HC virgin PSF and HC re-PSF is basically the same. Zhejiang Province is the largest production base, and Jiangsu Province ranks the second place. But for consuming market, Jiangsu is the largest, especially the China Dieshiqiao International Home Textile City. One producer of Bing Dwen Dwen, Nantong Golden Phoenix Toy Manufacturing Co.,Ltd, is located in Nantong.

Recently, Bing Dwen Dwen has become popular all over China and abroad. Some market players joke that the price of PSF has increased because of it?

Actually, the main reason for the rise is the higher oil prices during the Spring Festival holiday, leading to the higher costs of PSF. According to CCFGroup, the polymerization costs are 6,743yuan/mt on Feb 8, up 265yuan/mt from 6,478yuan/mt on Jan 30, and up 571yuan/mt from 6,172yuan/mt on Jan 8. After returning from the holiday, HC virgin PSF offers have risen by 200-300yuan/mt partially, some up by 600yuan/mt. Siliconized HC virgin PSF is offered at 8,200-8,600yuan/mt, highly at 8,900yuan/mt, after-tax ex-works. For HC re-PSF, offers in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, mostly rise by 200yuan/mt. In Cixi and Jiaxing, 7-15D siliconized HC re-PSF was offered at 7,300-7,400yuan/mt, and in Hangzhou and Shaoxing, prices are at 7,400-7,600yuan/mt, after-tax ex-works. The price spread between HC virgin PSF and HC re-PSF is about 1,000yuan/mt. However, market transactions are still limited currently as most downstream plants have not resumed operation.

The non-available Bing Dwen Dwen now is attributed to the not large production previously, as producers forecast the sales may be limited, and currently, it is still during the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, so there is a supply shortage. It is understood that the weight of a toy at 15cm is around 150 gram (weight differs for a toy in complexity, size, stuffing, accessories, etc.). Removed the plush fabric, the filling sector is roughly in a weight of 100 gram. One producer says that 50,000 pieces only use 5 tons of hollow fibers, so there is no feedstock shortage. Bing Dwen Dwen will soon circulate on the market.