While China has agreed to purchase an unspecified amount of hemp fiber from the United States in a recently signed agriculture trade deal, there are currently no suppliers of the material in the US

The leading company that had been processing hemp for fiber, Kentucky-based Sunstrand LLC, filed for bankruptcy late last year, in part due to its inability to source raw material. The company had been turning out fabric fibers for apparel maker Patagonia, and claimed to be producing hemp-fiber based door panels for BMW as well as filters for water treatment and hemp fiber products for the construction industry.

Wyndrige Farm, a private company based in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA buys purchasing Hemp Train decortication technology from Canadian Greenfield Technologies for $1.5 million to be installed in an 80,000-sq-ft fiber processing facility.

Dallas-based Panda Biotech has signed a contract with an international equipment manufacturer for construction of the largest hemp decorticator in the country, with plans to process hemp grown in Texas exclusively into textile-grade fibert and cellulose. But Texas farmers are yet to get licenses to grow the hemp fiber.