Effective Aug. 1, Honeywell is increasing the price of its residential and commercial bcf fiber and fiber-grade resins by 5 cents per pound over the current price, and by 3 cents per pound on all staple fiber products from Honeywell Nylon LLC. The company is raising prices on textiles, specialty polymers and certain chemical intermediates.

Unforeseen global tightness of benzene supply caused by unplanned outages has ramped up benzene prices to new record levels, the company said in a written statement. Benzene is a key petrochemical feedstock to nylon production.

"This sharp rise in the price of benzene has dramatically impacted raw material costs for nylon products," said Walter W. Hubbard, president, Honeywell Nylon. "This has forced us to reevaluate our pricing for all of our products."

Honeywell Nylon LLC is a fully integrated producer of Nylon 6 carpet fibers and resins, automotive and textile fibers, specialty polymers and chemical intermediates. A unit of Honeywell's Specialty Materials business, Honeywell Nylon is based in Charlotte, N.C., and has manufacturing facilities in the Eastern United States, Canada and China. Honeywell Nylon is the largest single-site producer of caprolactam worldwide.