Reductone Price Hits Record High in China, Driving Up Disperse Dye Costs

The price of reductone in China has risen by 620% in about nine months.

Zhejiang Hongsheng Chemical, one of China's main producers of reductone, notified its customers on September 21, 2026 that the price of this dye intermediate would rise to 180,000 yuan per ton (about $25,000) starting September 22. The new quotation sets another all-time high for a product that sold for roughly 25,000 yuan per ton at the end of 2025, which represents a more than sevenfold increase in less than nine months.

Reductone is an essential building block for black, blue and violet disperse dyes, the colorants used to dye polyester and other synthetic fibers. It accounts for 20% to 30% of the production cost of these dyes, so every jump in its price is quickly reflected in the ex-factory prices that dye makers charge to textile dyeing and printing mills.

Hongsheng linked the latest increase to the sharp rise in the cost of its basic raw materials, notably pure benzene and nitric acid, and to a special safety inspection campaign that Chinese authorities are carrying out on nitration plants across the chemical industry. The company operates from the Hangzhou Bay Shangyu Economic and Technological Development Area in Zhejiang province, an industrial cluster that also hosts several of the country's largest dye manufacturers.

The supply side has very little flexibility. Producing reductone involves hazardous chemical steps and generates waste acid that is difficult to treat, which exposes the sector to strict environmental and safety controls. China's compliant and effective production capacity is estimated at only 50,000 to 60,000 tons per year and is concentrated in a handful of companies. Industry sources reported in January that only three producers were able to maintain stable deliveries, and dye makers still have no practical substitute for this raw material.

The rally started in the second half of January 2026. Around January 20, reductone was still trading near 25,000 yuan per ton, but it quickly climbed to 38,000 and then 50,000 yuan per ton before reaching about 70,000 yuan per ton in February. In March, quotations ranged between 70,000 and 100,000 yuan per ton, and dye maker Runtu indicated on March 11 that the market price stood at around 100,000 yuan per ton. Prices then stayed above 100,000 yuan per ton through the middle of the year, and market averages were still hovering between 100,000 and 120,000 yuan per ton in early September before Hongsheng's latest adjustment.

Dye manufacturers have passed these costs downstream in several waves. Zhejiang Longsheng, one of the world's biggest dye producers with about 300,000 tons of annual dye capacity, raised the price of its disperse black and disperse blue products by 2,000 yuan per ton on February 8, bringing its cumulative increase for the year to 5,000 yuan per ton at that time, while Runtu also lifted its disperse black prices several times. By mid-April, the market price of a benchmark grade of disperse black had risen from 16.5 yuan per kilogram at the start of the year to around 23 yuan per kilogram, and some factory quotations reached 25 to 30 yuan per kilogram. A new round of price increase notices followed in early September from Longsheng, Runtu and Yabang.

The pressure is not limited to disperse dyes. H-acid, the key intermediate for the reactive and acid dyes used on cotton, wool and leather, climbed from about 40,000 yuan per ton at the start of 2026 to more than 100,000 yuan per ton in July and 150,000 yuan per ton in early September. On September 19, Tianjin Yadong Group raised its ex-factory price to a record 200,000 yuan per ton. Taken together, the two increases mean that almost every major family of dyes made in China is facing higher costs at the same time.

Because China dominates global dye production, the impact extends well beyond its borders. Garment and textile hubs such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, India and Turkey rely heavily on Chinese dyes, and their dyeing mills are now absorbing higher input costs just as the traditional restocking season for autumn and winter apparel gets underway. Analysts at Shenwan Hongyuan expect dye prices to keep rising, supported by the tight market for upstream intermediates, while Indian intermediate makers have drawn investor attention as potential alternative suppliers.

As of September 26, 2026, the market shows no sign of easing. As long as the nitration safety inspections continue and benzene and nitric acid remain expensive, reductone producers are unlikely to lower their quotations, and further increases in finished disperse dye prices are expected in the coming weeks. Textile buyers should prepare for higher dyeing charges on polyester fabrics through the end of the year.