World textile fiber consumption increased

Preliminary data suggests that world textile fiber consumption increased by 4.8% to a record 67.7 million tonnes in 2007. World cotton consumption expanded by 3.8% to a record 26.9 million tons in 2007, marking the ninth year of continuous expansion but the second year of a decreasing rate of growth. Preliminary data suggests that world demand for non-cotton fibers increased by 5.4% in 2007, compared to 3.8% in 2006, to 40.7 million tonnes. World non-cotton fiber consumption expanded at a higher rate than world cotton consumption in 2007 and, consequently, the market share of cotton decreased from 40.2% in 2006 to 39.8% in 2007.

In order to forecast possible consumption paths for cotton and non-cotton textile fibers for 2008 and 2009, different potential scenarios on global economic expansion, and cotton and polyester prices were simulated. Simulation results suggest that: (a) textile fiber consumption will continue to expand in 2008 and 2009, (b) cotton consumption will increase slightly in 2008 but will decline or remain stagnant in 2009, and that (c) cotton's share of the world textile market will decline.

Textile fiber consumption forecasts range from 69.8 million tonnes to 70.5 million tons for 2008, 'and from 72.0 million tonnes to 73.7 million tonnes for 2009. Cotton consumption forecasts range from 27.2 million tonnes to 27.4 million tonnes for 2008 and from 27.1 million tonnes to 27.5 million tonnes for 2009. The forecasts of the share of cotton in world textile fiber consumption range from 38.9% to 39.0% for 2008, and from 37.2% to 37.7% for 2009.