China’s staple fiber production rose 0.5 per cent in 2017. The bulk of the increase was driven by viscose staple fiber production, which managed to offset the year-on-year drop in polyester and acrylic staple fiber production. Despite the year-on-year drop in accumulated output, polyester staple fiber production is still expected to make up the bulk of overall staple fiber production in China. More than 70 per cent of staple fiber production in the country is expected to be polyester staple fibers.

Accumulated polyester staple fiber production underperformed year-on-year in 2017. There was a 1.4 per cent drop year-on-year. A year-on-year drop in production among polyester staple fiber producers held back year-on-year growth in overall staple fiber production. Viscose staple fiber production made up the bulk of the year-on-year increase in China’s overall staple fiber production in 2017 up to December and accounts for more than a fifth of recorded Chinese staple fiber production in 2017.

Acrylic staple fiber production is expected to be 4.4 per cent of total staple fiber production in China. After a positive year-on-year growth in accumulated acrylic staple fiber production in 2017 up to November, acrylic staple fiber producers ended with a year-on-year drop in accumulated output by December.