The man-made fibre (MMF) makers are looking forward to an increase in consumption in the global textile and clothing industry at an annual growth rate of 3.3 percent by 2020.

In an interview with fibre2fashion, Mr. Friedrich Weninger, chief operating officer of Lenzing Group, said, “The man-made fibre industry is on the fast track due to the rising fibre demand. We expect an annual calculated growth rate of 3.3 percent in the synthetic fibre production, where as cotton will only grow 0.6 percent per annum.”

“By 2020, we expect a total annual MMF consumption of about 100 million tons and this will be a dynamic increase compared to 52 million tons in the year 2000. We will see the strongest growth in emerging countries such as, India, China and Indonesia,” he informs.

In a similar vein, Mr. Ricky Miyatake, general manager of fiber materials & apparel administration at Teijin Frontier, says, “We expect the demand for synthetic fibres to continue growing as various functions, sensibility, etc.  can be added to those fibres unlike natural fibres such as cotton.”

However, Mr. KK Agarwal, president of Northern India Textile Mills’ Association (NITMA), says, “Though man-made fibres are giving a strong challenge to cotton since the prices of cotton yarn is about 20 percent higher than polyester yarn, cotton will always remain as a preferred fibre for clothing, towels and bed linen due to its inherit properties.”

“Cotton has a different niche market especially in countries like India, where cotton yarn production is more than non-cotton yarn,” he concludes.