The Man-Made Fibers Market

The textile system is interconnected to other realities whose evolution conditions their development. Particularly, the production of textile fiber  world  is of big strategic importance.
The analysis of the quantitative and qualitative evolution in the world of  fiber production in very important in order to give the textile world information about its possible development.
As instance, the innovation in the textile system is highly conditioned by the innovation concerning raw materials, even if large quantities and large productions always refer to standard, basic fibers.
Natural fibers play a role that is important still today. Cotton and polyester are on top of used fibers, whereas other natural fibers occupy a marginal place that probably won’t be modified in a short and medium time.
Besides, natural fibers, beyond what genetic engineering can maybe furnish in a short future, are very much bound to a territorial area and we can’t interfere on their characteristics and performances.
If we move from basic materials everywhere disposable, chemical fibers better fit for that wide redistribution that the textile industry has undergone and will undergo.

Beside this wide availability, chemical fibers seem to have an innovative potential that is bound to the research and development of new products.

Today’s chemical fibers, even the most common ones, have surely better characteristics and performances than those of the ones of twenty years ago.

Let’s think, to make it simple, of the birth of new kinds of polyester beside the traditional ones, of the development of micro fibers and of more technical fibers that were unthinkable only a few years ago.

Acordis and USA Association data

According to Acordis, the situation of chemical fibers shows today what follows:

• Trends of past years continue
• World fibre consumption continues to grow
• Man-made fibres already account for 60% of world-wide fibre consumption
• Highest growth rates for man-made textile fibres in Asia
• Europe, Japan and USA
• Stable development of man-made industrial fibres
• Further growth in specialities
• Further decline in mass-produced textile goods
• Overall growth in world-wide production of man-made fibres will continue

Note:EU (15) + Switzerland, Malta, Turkey, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Baltic States.
Other parts of the former Soviet Union and ex-Yugoslavia are excluded.

1999  particularly showed:

• Downturn in textile-cycle reinforced by
  • Asian crisis combined with excess capacities there
  • Import restrictions on China
  • Western Europe, e.g. from Turkey
  • Strong increase in low-priced fibre imports
  • Retailing business remains weak in important textile countries
• Collapse in sales for all European manufacturers of man-made textile fibres

To better the analysis of the today’s situation of chemical fiber production, data of Fiber Economic Bureau (2000 world directory of manufactured fiber producers) can be used, even if they are relative to 1998 because they analyze the evolution in 1978-1998.
The overall fiber production has reached 29,9 millions of tons, increasing of 108%, from 14,3 millions of tons in 1978.
The growth is bound to synthetic fibers, which are today 93% of the whole, because cellulose fibers are declining.

With its 16 millions of tons, polyester is the most important (53,5% of the whole), oilefinic  fibers are the second on the row (16,4%) then nylon (13%) and acrylic ( 9%). Oilefinic ones have had the most significant performances (from 7% in 1978).

Production moves more and more to Asia (56%), whereas the strongest decline has struck Northern America, from 61% in 1968 to 37% in 1998.

Synthetic fibers have grown 5% each year, cellulose ones have reduced 2% each year.

Oilefinic fibers have growth rates of 8%, polyester of 6%.