Chemical fibers:To“decelerate”the development in the next five years

By+Niu+Fang

“Chinas chemical fiber industry has witnessed remarkable achievements based on the development of the 12th Five-Year Program， which can be briefly described into such three points： the first is the gradually established global leading position in conventional fiber production field； the second is large-scale manufacturing of high-performance fibers that have sharply narrowed the gap between China and the developed countries for nearly 30 years； the third goes to industrial chain collaboration and brand building that have enjoyed popular support and won initial success.” Mr. Duan Xiaoping， President of China Chemical Fibers Association， gave his comments to the development of Chinas chemical fiber industry during the 12th FiveYear Program period.

A set of data presents a more visualized illustration to the chemical fiber industry achievement during the 12th Five-Year Program period： “In 2014， the chemical fiber industry saw an output of 43.9 million tons， increasing 42.1% over 2010 with an average annual growth of 9.2%， and accounting for 69.5% of the world with an increase of 7.6 percentage points over 2010. The exports reached 3.24 million tons with an average annual increase of 14%， a jumping of 68.8% compared to 2010. The proportion of chemical fiber industry in the total processing of textile industry accounted for 82.2%， up by 12.2 percentage points over 2010.”

It is fair to say that Chinas chemical fiber industry has witnessed a tremendous amplification in output， which however will be changed in the future.“We have made some adjustments to the growth target in output during the 13th Five-Year Program period. In the latest planning of ‘the 13th Five-Year Program， the output growth is described as ‘the chemical fiber output is expected to reach 55 million tons till 2020， an average annual growth of 3.6%， and it should be mentioned that this is a roaring change，” stated Mr. Duan.

Mr. Duan also gave a further explanation that the adjustments are mainly because of the huge changes of the situation that the industry development is to face during the 13th Five-Year Program period. “Chinas economic development has entered the new normal at present， and during the 13th Five-Year Program period， Chinas chemical fiber industry will also face new challenges in its development environment， for the industry has entered a stage of three concurrent periods including a retrim period of supply and demand， a period for optimization and adjustments of inventory and productivity， as well as a period for moderate development of highquality incremental quantity. The production capacity surplus， periodically or structurally， as well as market overcompetition， have brought about harder risks and caused increasingly apparent contradictions between orders fragmentation and large scale production. The unbalanced development of the downstream and upstream of the industrial chain and the mismatching of raw materials have not been fundamentally resolved. Whats worse is that the weak independent innovation capability， short life cycle of high value-added products， lagging intelligent manufacturing and producer services， and poor brand building have seriously impacted on Chinas chemical fiber industry in its cultivation of a global competitive advantage. Increasingly tight resource and environmental constraints as well as the continuously rising labor and other factors of production costs have restricted the sustained and healthy development of chemical fiber industry.”

Mr. Duan said： “In the future， Chinas chemical fiber industry must not follow the outdated development model that relies on growth in volume， instead， the competition among chemical fiber enterprises will gradually develop into a soft power one of resources， channels， brands， and standards. Therefore， the companies are required， closely following market development trend， to initiatively grasp such core elements as technology， brand， and ecology and to pointedly resolve the inherent structural problems in order to seize the commanding height of a new round of competition.”

As for the future development trend of enterprises， Mr. Duan stressed that Chinas chemical fiber enterprises must focus on “transformation from the production-oriented to the service-oriented”. In addition， they are required to attach great importance to four major projects of “new fiber materials， green manufacturing， intelligent manufacturing， and brand development”. While talking about intelligent manufacturing， Mr. Duan made a point of its main development direction of “smart spinning production plants， digital fiber process design and manufacturing technology， as well as the intelligent logistics system for chemical fiber production.”