Development of China's Polyester Filament Industry
Guo Dasheng,SunShuxian,WangLixia,Yang Chunguang and Gao Zhiyong
           (Dalian Synthetic Fibre Research Institute)
China's polyester filament is one of the developing  sector
rapidly in the chem-ical fibre industry.After  tens  years
of development,it has  entered  the  competitively  market
both at home and abroad with enough supply.
In 1997,the total output of synthetic fibre of China was  3
.7357 million tons which occupied the first place   in  the
world.The development of polyester filament is  especially
outstanding with the output  from 70 thousand tons in 1985
to 1539.1 thousand tons in 1997(see table 1).
Table 1    The output of  polyester filament over years in China
    Year           Output       Annual Increase Rate
                   ('000t)              (%)
    1993              701.9               4.8
    1994              936.5              33.4
    1995              1022.0              9.1
    1996              1369.0             34.0
    1997              1539.1             12.4
1. Fluctuating market
(1) Market demand
China is the largest consumer of polyester filament due  to
  its  large  population  . The  total  amount   of   fibre
manufactured in 1997 is over 9 million tons,out of which 4
.5 million tons are natural fibre,over 4.5 million tons are
chemical   fibre. Polyester  filament  occupies  nearly  2
  million  tons, out  of  which  1. 5  million   tons   are
domestically made and 500 thousand tons imported. We  take
some figures from the three  main  markets  in  China  for
illustration:Shao-xing, Zhejiang province;Shengze, Jiangsu
Province;Xiqiao,Guangdong province.
In Shaoxing County,there are altogether 20 thousand sets of
non-shuttle looms and 50 thousand sets  of  shuttle  looms
.The annual output of the woven fabric  is  about  2. 8  bi
-llion metres.The main fabric is of cotton- like  and  wool
-like with drawn yarn and texture yarn as raw materials.The
average weight per metre of fabric is 400g which leads  to
the demand of 1.2 million tons of fibre materials, out  of
which polyester is 1million tons,occupying 80%.
In Xiqiao area,there  are  7000  sets  of  rapiers  and  20
thousand sets of shuttle looms.The annual output of  woven
fabric is 0.7 billion metres with textured  yarn  as  main
raw materials.The main products are thick cotton-like,wool
-like  fabrics  with  an average weight of 400g  per  metre
,which leads to the consumption of  polyester  filament  of
about 250 thousand tons.
In Shengze town,the main products are the  thin  type  wool
-like fabrics.There are now altogether 4000 sets  of  water
-jet looms with drawn yarn as the  main  raw  material. The
annual output of fabric is over 0. 3  billion  metres. The
average weight of  the fabric  is 200-250g which leads  to
the demand of polyester filament of about 70 thousand tons.
Shaoxing,Xiqiao and Shengze are the  three  main  polyester
fibre distributing centers in China.Their annual demand of
polyester filament is 1.3 million tons  occupying  64%  of
the total demand in China.From the above-mentioned figures
,we could predict that total demand of  polyester  filament
is over 2 million tons.
(2) varieties balance
Drawn yarn and textured yarn are the two main  products  in
China's polyester filament market.The demand of the  above
mentioned filament varies with the  variation  of  popular
fabric and the variation of the stocking situation of  the
clothing and f abric.  While  the  demand  of  drawn  yarn
increase in the market,the demand of textured yarn decrease.
The price climbs up a little  with  the  demand  increasing
,whereas the price goes  down  a  little  with  the  demand
decreasing.From 1995  to 1997,the demand  of  drawn   yarn
increased while the demand for textured yarn decreased. So
,many producers began to introduce and revamp FDY  machines
.But after the Spring Fe stival(Chinese New Year)  of  1997
,the demand for FDY  began  to  decrease  while    the  POY
increase.So, no company  was interested in FDY and the POY
machines drew more and more attenion at that time.
(3)Output and price
The demand for polyester filament in China's market  varies
seasonally.With the season  changing, the  output  changes
gradually.In general,there are two regular trough  periods
-one,1-5 months after the Spring  Festival, the  other, the
middle of Jul y  to  the end of August.
The price in China's polyester filament market fluctuate  a
lot in accordance with such  factors  as  national  policy
adjustment,restriction extent  on  importing, chips  price
,output,newly developed product.
2. Increasing scale
China's polyester filament output takes the second place in
the world.There are nearly 300 enterprises, many  of  them
are of medium or small scale.The number  of    enterprises
actually in production are less than 250,occupying 70%  of
the total. In  contrary,the scale of production