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In 2005, the global cellulose acetate fiber industry was valued at almost
$3 billion, with cigarette filter applications accounting for $2.45 billion
and textile yarns accounting for the remainder.
The global supply of cellulose acetate fibers is dominated by a relatively
small number of companies that generally produce filter tow. The number of
companies producing textile fibers is larger, but most companies have only
small capacities compared with tow producers. The number of companies producing
both tow and textile fiber has dwindled in the last few years. Only Voridian,
Mitsubishi Rayon and SK Chemicals continue to produce both.
Voridian (a division of Eastman Chemical Company), with 24% of the world’s
acetate fiber supply, has the leading position ahead of Celanese Acetate with
21%. A second tier of companies, together accounting for 36% of the world’s
supply, includes Rhodia (15%), Daicel (8%), Mitsubishi Rayon (7%) and Acetate
Products (6%).
Cigarette filter tow is the largest single end use, representing
86% of total cellulose acetate fiber consumption in 2005. During the early
1990s, worldwide demand growth for cigarette filter tow was fueled by the 1987
decision of the Chinese government to produce filtered cigarettes. Chinese
filtered cigarette production grew from nearly zero percent of total Chinese
production of cigarettes in 1987 to 60% in 1992 and 88% in 1995. From 1995
to 2000, total Chinese cigarette production remained essentially constant,
but the percentage of filtered cigarettes produced increased by 9.3% to 97.3%.
In 2005 the percentage of filtered cigarettes is estimated to have been between
98.0% and 99.0% of China’s total production of cigarettes.
The following graph shows world production of cigarettes for 1995, 2000 and
2005:
The second-largest market for cellulose acetate fibers is textile yarns. The
properties of cellulose acetate textile fibers, primarily comfort, drape and
dyeability, have led to their use in apparel linings and garments. However,
fabrics made from these fibers are primarily dry-clean-only, which has limited
their current use to business and fashion wear. The largest use of these materials
is in apparel linings for business suits, skirts and pants. A close second
in volume is the use of the fibers in women’s evening and career apparel.
Recently, textile manufacturers began providing fabrics in blends of cellulose
acetate fibers with a variety of other materials, including spandex. The producers
claim that these materials are washable under defined conditions, and provide
the comfort of cellulose acetate fibers with the shape retention properties
of the other fibers. Over the 2005–2010 period, worldwide consumption
of cellulose acetate textile fibers will decline at an estimated 2% average
annual rate.
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