On the occasion of 53^rd Dornbirn Conference, Mr. Andreas Engehardt, General Manager of The Fiber Year GmbH interviewed with Dr. Untersperger, CEO of Lenzing Group.

    Question: What is Lenzing’s role in the Dornbirn Manmade Fibers Congress?

    Lenzing AG launched this discussion platform around half a century ago. Since then, Dornbirn has become the leading fiber congress in Europe, even in the world. As a technological leader in man-made cellulosics it is clear and indispensable for Lenzing to join this Congress at the forefront.

    Question: What are the main themes of the 53^rd Dornbirn Manmade Fibers Congress during September 10 to 12 in Dornbirn, Austria?

    This year brought mainly a broad insight into a variety of new applications of fibers.

    Question: What makes this congress so successful by attracting more than 700 participants from 30 nations?

    The importance of Dornbirn is that one gets a broad and excellent overview of the technological directions and targets of our industry. Equally important is that Dornbirn is also a very informal conversation platform. Nowhere else but in Dornbirn you will find as many scientists and managers from our industry at the same time in one place!

    Question: Which current issues in the global fiber industry do you consider most challenging and what is the conference’s contribution to approach these issues?

    Our main topics are that, in purely quantitative terms, the market develops well and robust. But the business still brings no great pleasure. The price level is totally unsatisfactory for all man-made fibers, the capacity utilization rate in some areas is low. For the largest production and sales market China, this is a new situation. Massive changes are required. The second main issue moving the industry is the development of the cotton market, as cotton still is the benchmark for all fibers. We all expect China to reduce its overfilled stocks. We hope that this will not lead to massive disruptions in the market.

    Question: Lenzing, the world market leader in man-made cellulosic fibers, benefits from the persistent revival of viscose staple fibers. What are the main reasons for this strong development?

    It is the growing demand for absorbent fibers which besides come from renewable resources. The high wearing comfort of cellulosic fibers is unrivaled. We note that there’s an increasing demand for our specialty fibers Lenzing Modal® and TENCEL®, but also for standard viscose. In addition, man-made cellulosics today have a much wider range of applications than in den past. I’m thinking of the dynamics in the nonwoven sector and in technical applications! Finally, with TENCEL® we are opening up an even wider range of application possibilities. With TENCEL® we enter application areas that will remain unmatched, even for viscose.

    Question: Which role will play Lenzing’s latest investment of the world’s largest TENCEL® production plant in Austria?

    Our new plant in Lenzing is another milestone in the development of TENCEL® technology: For the first time, we can produce over 60,000 tons per year with a single production line. This enables us to generate economies of scale. It is also a clear signal to the market that Lenzing will cover the strong demand for TENCEL® fibers in the future.

    Question: Do you think TENCEL®, the third generation of manmade cellulosic fibers, will increasingly drive this segment due to its eco-friendly production process?

    Absolutely. There is no cellulosic fiber with such outstanding properties like TENCEL®. The fiber is produced in a totally environmentally friendly process. The water consumption is up to 20 times lower than that of cotton. The chemical cycle in the production is nearly closed with more than 99%. And the result is a fiber that, in many areas, has better properties than high quality cotton.

    Question: How do you rate the future outlook of fiber demand and which fiber types will benefit the most?

    We see the global fiber market continuing to grow at rates around 3% p.a. in the next years. The market drivers will remain the growth in population and wealth, especially in the Emerging Markets. This means that high-quality absorbent fibers with a clear ecological footprint will grow much faster than standard fibers such as polyester and polyamide. Therefore, there's no way past man-made cellulosics. We expect that the amount of demand in this segment will be 2-3 times as high as the growth of the overall market. However, speaking in absolute terms, polyester and polyamide will remain the man-made fibers that cover most of the growth volume.

    Question: What fiber demand volume do you consider realistic by 2020 and what market shares would you assign to cellulosic, synthetic and natural fibers?

    We clearly expect the total market to exceed the 100 million ton mark. Due to resource issues this growth can to a large part only be covered by synthetic fibers. Almost two-thirds of the fiber production will come from synthetic fibers based on crude oil. Even in the most optimistic case, cotton will be stagnating around 25 to 28 million tons, which is about the current production volume. The rest of the demand will be covered by man-made cellulosics. In this segment we expect around 10 million tons production volume p.a. in 2020.