The president of CIRFS Mr Omer Sabanci – the association representing Europe’s €13 billion man-made fibres industry – reported to members on the industry’s situation and on CIRFS activities at its General Assembly held in Brussels on May 31.

Issues covered in the report included the general economic background; changes in the European industry’s output in 2005 and 2006; developments in the industry’s main markets; CIRFS initiatives on international trade issues and distortions; CIRFS work on market data; technical and environmental issues; and future prospects for the European man-made fibres industry.

Mr Sabanci’s report concluded on an optimistic note, “Realistically, I think that for textile activities we are now seeing a more stable situation than the one which existed in 2005. The immediate effects of the end of the quota system and the surge of imports from China have been absorbed. While it is clear that there have been significant negative effects, it is equally sure that some of the early reactions were exaggerated. A large European textile customer base remains, and is sustainable on the basis of proximity to customers, favourable logistics, use of lower-cost facilities on the edges of Europe for more labour-intensive processes and, in some cases, global investment or alliances. The European fibres industry can take profit from this local usage of fibres, provided that sectors facing global overcapacity and distress selling can find ways of dealing – defensively or proactively – with the situation.”