Despite Viscose Staple Fiber (VSF) production being more expensive than the production of Viscose Filament Yarn (VFY), global VSF production increased from 342 million kg in 2015-16 to 578 million kg in 2019-20. As per a Textile Value Chain report, this led to a decline in VSF imports by major countries.

China leads in VSF imports drop

China’s VSF imports declined 33 per cent to 150,000 tons in 2020 from 226,000 tons in 2019. VSF imports by Germany too fell by 18 per cent from 55,000 tons in 2019 to 45,000 tons in 2020. Indonesia’s imports dropped from 53,000 tons in 2019 to 36,000 tons in 2020 similarly Vietnam’s imports fell by 10,000 tons to 57,000 tonne. India’s imports too fell from 63,000 tons in 2019 to 57,000 tons in 2020. On the other hand, VSF imports by the United States’ increased from 83,000 tons in 2019 to 103,000 tons in 2020. Bangladesh too recorded a rise in imports by 60.97 per cent to 99,000 tons up from 49,000 tons in 2019. Singapore’s imports increased to 98,000 tons in 2020. Global VSF exports up 8.11 per cent

In 2020, global VSF exports increased 8.11 per cent and China emerged the largest VSF exporter, with an annual growth rate of 4.06 per cent. China’s VSF exports increased from 360,000 tons in 2019 to 375,000 tons in 2020. World’s second largest VSF exporter in 2020 was Indonesia with 342,000 tons exports in 2020, a few thousand tons lower than 2019 figures.

Singapore’s VSF exports touched 112,000 tons in 2020, which outpaced Thailand’s exports by 1,000 tons. Thailand’s exports increased 12,000 tons from previous year while Germany’s exports increased 28.47 per cent, from 43,000 tons in 2019 to 55,000 tons in 2020. Sri Lanka too recorded a rise in exports from 2,000 tons in 2019 to 8,000 tons in 2020 while Malaysia’s exports increased 228.57 per cent in 2020.

Meanwhile, India’s VSF exports declined 12.17 per cent to 66,000 tons in 2020. Taiwan’s export decreased almost 51.34 per cent from 45,000 tons in 2019 to 21,000 tons in 2020. Japan’s exports decreased from 13,000 tons in 2019 to 9,000 tons in 2020. Spain’s exports fell from 9,000 tons to 4,000 tons in 2020.

Shipment sees a drop

Global VFY exports decreased to 96,000 tons in 2020 from 119,000 tons in 2019. Shipments by the largest exporter China decreased from 85,000 tons in 2019 to 71,000 tons. Czech Republic’s exports declined by 2,000 tons to reach 7,000 tons while. Exports by the world’s fourth largest exporter Poland too recorded a sharp drop. India’s exports dwindled from 9,219 tons in 2019 to 6,066 tons in 2020.