What are the end uses and countries producing PSF (polyester staple fiber)?

Due to the rising demand in apparel and the home furnishing sectors, the demand for polyester staple fibers is also increasing. PSF has a wide range of applications in areas like fillings, automotive, textiles, filtration, and home furnishing. In the apparel sector polyester staple fibers are mainly used in manufacturing sportswear, activewear, and intimate wear. Since polyester fibers are cheaper, thinner, and available in different designs and colors, hence it is also used as the substitute for cotton fibers in making garments. This growing usage in the apparel sector is driving the demand for polyester staple fibers in the global market. Other than the apparel industry, polyester fiber has a great demand in the construction industry where it is used in filling cracks in walls as well as to enhance the overall quality of walls, tanks, and other pre-casted products such as tiles, manhole covers, and blocks.

Due to the increasing awareness of environmental protection, the consumer demand for sustainable and recycled textiles are increasing at a very fast rate. Polyester staple fibers are mainly made from either polyester waste or from recycled post-consumer PET bottle flakes. This is allowing the various industries to make sustainable clothing from recycled PSF with a wide range of colors, prints and designs. In 2016, the size of the polyester staple fiber market in the world was more than 15,519.7 kilotons.

In the year 2016, solid polyester was having the largest product segment followed by hollow polyester fiber which was the second-largest product segment. The Asia Pacific led the global polyester staple fiber market by 77.6% followed by Europe. This region of Asia-Pacific consists of countries with emerging economies like India, China, South Korea, and Taiwan. This region led the market share due to the increasing population and living standards of people living there which has led to increased demand for staple polyester fiber. Some of the popular industries in the Asia-Pacific region are Toray Chemical Korea Inc, Reliance Industries Limited, and Bombay Dyeing. Other major regions include North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. Major countries manufacturing PSF include the US, Canada, Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Russia, etc. Companies like W. Barnet GmbH & Co. KG, Alpek, S.A.B. de C.V., Diuou Fibre (M) Sdn Bhd., Huvis Corporation, Indorama Corporation, etc. are few of the major PSF manufacturing industries.