Oerlikon Textile to publish 'The Fiber Year' report in June

13 May '10

5 min read

The Oerlikon Textile report “The Fiber Year” will be published now for the tenth time. It is the next generation of a service that the Dutch manmade fiber manufacturer Akzo had provided for more than three decades until the turn of the millennium. The full version will be ready to download from the homepage of Oerlikon Textile in June, later a Chinese version will also be available.

The global fiber consumption went up 4.2% to 70.5 million tonnes. Manmade fibers rose 4.0% to 44.1 million tonnes and natural fibers advanced 4.5% to 26.4 million tonnes. A world population of 6.8 billion corresponds to an average per capita consumption of 10.4 kg. While this development of returning to growth in 2009 may be positve at first sight, the entire textile and apparel industry has lost a huge manufacturing and processing volume in the last two years. Taking into account the long term average annual growth rate of 3.4%, the demand shortfall in the last two years adds up to 15 million tonnes. As lower priced apparel was available across the world after PR China's accession to WTO at the end of 2001, the short term average annual growth rate even accounts for 5.2%. This annual growth rate would lead to a demand shortfall in the last two years of 19 million tonnes.

Major Fiber Types

Cotton
Current season's world cotton production is expected to decline 4.8% to 22.3 million tonnes. The increasing approval and cultivation of genetically modified cotton had resulted in soaring cotton yields. In the season 2003/04, the actual cotton production started to outpace the long-term trend. Current season's output returned to the long-term trend due to 3.5% lower yields per hectare in the actual season and the fifth consecutive seasonal decline in cotton area. In contrast, global consumption is projected to rise 5.4% to 25.2 million tonnes.

Wool World wool production fell 7.4% at 1.1 million tonnes clean weight in 2009, marking the seventh annual decline in the past decade. Apparel wool witnessed the steepest drop in production, falling 8% to 552,000 tonnes, while production of wool used in interior textiles fell 6% to 547,000 tonnes. Almost half the world output comes from Australia, PR China and New Zealand. All countries reported declines for different reasons. Drought in eastern Australia and high sheep meat prices resulted in 9.5% lower output at 257,000 tonnes and have pushed sheep numbers down to around 72 million head, the lowest since the 1920s. As 90% of Australia's wool is used in clothing, it is the world's largest supplier of apparel wool, accounting for around 50% of world production. Production in the second largest wool producing country, PR China, fell by 6.9% to 0.16 million tonnes. This is the lowest production level in China since 2003. There is a move away from woolled sheep in China to take advantage of high sheep meat prices. In New Zealand, the world's largest producer of wool for interior textiles, production fell by 23.5% to 119,000 tonnes clean. The main driver of this decline was the sell-off of sheep as farmers converted their properties to use for the dairy industry.

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