Statistics: Technical Textiles in Japan

Fibre output in Japan fell in 2005 for the fifth consecutive year. Production dropped by 2.3%, or 30,000 tons, following declines of 2.8% in 2004, 7.1% in 2003, 9.5% in 2002 and 4.8% in 2001. Since 1997 output has fallen by 31% or 573,000 tons. The drop in man-made fibre output was shared between filament yarn and staple fibre. Production of filament yarn fell by 20,000 tons, or 3.5%, while that of staple fibres decreased by a lesser 10,000 tons or 1.4%. Within staple fibres, increases were recorded only in the case of polypropylene fibres (up 8.0%) and “other synthetic fibres” (up 11.8%). Furthermore, these improvements in output summed to only 8,000 tons, which was more than offset by declines in other fibre types.