Wood and bamboo fibers are known as “green textile raw materials of the 21st century”. Under the current general trend of increasing pressure on resources and the environment and the transformation of the global textile industry towards greening, wood and bamboo fiber have successfully become the third largest supplier in the global home textile raw material market, becoming an emerging industry with a scale of hundreds of billions of yuan.
my country is a major producer and consumer of wood and bamboo fiber in the world. It is of great significance to formulate strategic plans, seize the international commanding heights, and build a large wood and bamboo fiber industry for protecting the ecological environment, developing a green economy, and improving international competitiveness.
At present, resource and environmental constraints are tightening, and the global textile industry is transforming into green and environmentally friendly. Wood and bamboo fibers have developed rapidly, surpassing wool in one fell swoop, becoming the third largest supplier of global home textile raw materials market after synthetic fibers and cotton (accounting for 6 %), an emerging industry with a scale of hundreds of billions of yuan. Countries have formulated strategic plans, built brands, established ecological labels, raised public awareness, and seized the commanding heights. The EU’s 2013 “Forestry Industry Blueprint” and 2014 “The Future of European Forestry: Structural Challenges towards a Bioeconomy” pointed out that the global move towards sustainable development provides a golden opportunity for wood and wood fiber.
Wood and bamboo fiber have become the mainstay of home textile raw materials
In recent years, global resource and environmental constraints have led to a tight supply of raw materials for the textile industry. On the one hand, due to the strict protection of cultivated land in various countries, the cultivation of cotton, hemp, and mulberry has been restricted. On the other hand, the increasing depletion of oil and natural gas resources has sounded the alarm for synthetic fibers. The United Nations predicted in 2000 that the world would basically run out of oil by 2070.
In addition, climate and environmental changes have also brought new impacts to the textile industry. Natural disasters such as droughts and floods around the world have caused reductions in the production of many biomass resources. Australia’s seven consecutive years of drought have significantly reduced the number of sheep, and sheep wool (washed wool) production has dropped by 30%.
Based on this, the home textile industry is moving towards green development, showing several major trends: the development of recyclable textiles, textiles that save energy resources, lightweight multi-functional textiles, textiles that benefit soil and water conservation and other environmentally friendly new pulps and new technologies.
Wood fiber is an excellent raw material for the home textile industry. It uses fast-growing pine as raw material. It does not damage the ecological environment and has natural deodorization and sterilization properties. More importantly, it has outstanding environmental protection functions, which can reduce water pollution and save water. The product Self-biodegradable and no waste pollution. Therefore, high-quality wood fiber is called “21st century green fiber”.
Wood and bamboo fiber are sunrise industries with a scale of 100 billion yuan
Wood fiber is a good substitute for cotton. From 2004 to 2012, cotton harvests failed year after year, and wood fiber prices hit record highs, which also greatly promoted massive investment in new wood fiber production capabilities. In the global fiber raw material market at the beginning of 2014, synthetic fibers ranked first, accounting for 61%; cotton ranked second, accounting for 31%-32%; viscose, which uses wood pulp to extract cellulose, has surpassed wool and jumped to the top spot. The third place, accounting for 6%.
At present, the world produces approximately 4 million tons of viscose fiber (a kind of wood fiber log Tencel) every year, and China accounts for about 58%. From 2004 to 2012, taking advantage of poor cotton harvests and rising crude oil prices, viscose fiber production increased by approximately 84%.
In recent years, bamboo fiber textiles have gradually integrated into people’s daily life in developed countries in Europe and the United States. For example, Carrefour has begun selling Tex brand bamboo fiber pillows, bath towels and bathrobes; brand clothing has launched bamboo fiber T-shirts and bamboo fiber socks. A casual suit made of bamboo fiber material sells for 59,000 yen in the Japanese market, a bamboo fiber jacket in Hong Kong costs 4,000 Hong Kong dollars, and a golf T-shirt in mainland China costs about 800 yuan. RMB. Many well-known clothing and sports and leisure brands have begun to use bamboo fiber in their company products, such as Versace, Fila, Nike, etc. Zhu Qinghua, a light industry researcher at CIC Consulting, believes that my country’s bamboo fiber industry is in the development and rising stage of the market. Now the terminal consumer market demand for the domestic bamboo fiber market has exceeded 10 billion yuan, and the annual growth rate is expected to exceed 300%. Wood and bamboo fibers have opened a new era in the textile industry and become synonymous with environmentally friendly and healthy textiles.
Countries have taken actions to seize the commanding heights
In order to support the dazzling sunrise industry of wood and bamboo fiber, countries have taken actions one after another to seize the global commanding heights as soon as possible.
The first is to formulate strategic planning. The “Forestry Industry Blueprint” released by the European Union in 2013 pointed out that forestry strategic opportunities include wood fiber, which can promote the forestry industry to achieve high value-added and optimized recycling. The European Forest Research Institute’s 2014 “The Future of European Forestry: Structural Challenges towards a Bioeconomy” analyzes the strategic opportunities for forestry and points out that with the increasing global focus on sustainable development and recycling, there is a need to develop new materials, which It provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the wood and wood fiber industries.
The second is to build a brand and establish an ecological label. Generally speaking, raw materials account for only a small part of the sales price of clothing, and raw material suppliers share very little profit, which also becomes a problem.A major obstacle to the marketization of wood and bamboo fiber is the difficulty in sharing reasonable profits. To this end, European countries suggest taking the path of vertical alliances to promote marketization by building brands, establishing eco-labels, and signing long-term supply agreements. Europe is at the forefront in this regard, and Japan also has fiber manufacturing plants that have introduced related production technologies.
The third is to increase public awareness. In March last year, the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations organized the “Forest Fashion, Fashion Forest” event in Geneva, displaying fine clothing made by design masters using wood fiber to raise public awareness of wood fiber.
The fourth is to focus on solving related issues such as fabric waste, recycling and reuse.
In short, wood fiber textiles are green and healthy products that will be extremely popular with consumers in the future and will shine in the global market.
Extended reading: https://www. alltextile.cn/product/product-36-6.html
Extended reading: https:/ /www.tpu-ptfe.com/post/7734.html
Extended reading: https://www.yingjietex.com/product/200D-Polyester-OXFORD-Fabric.html
Extended reading: https://www.china-fire-retardant.com/post/9385.html
Extended reading:https://www.alltextile.cn/product/product-61-527.htm
