Executive Summary

Hard hit by the economic recession at the start of the 1990s, the fibre industry in the UK has grown moderately in revenue terms over the last 2 years, and was estimated to be worth £2bn in 1996.

Fibres and textiles is now a truly global marketplace, and one of the key factors shaping the development of the UK industry in recent years has been the significant increase in productive capacity in developing countries. UK companies are simply unable to compete with the low production costs available in countries such as China and India, and are increasingly shifting their own bulk manufacturing operations overseas. As a result, the import penetration of fibre and textile products into the UK has increased significantly over the last 10 years.

These developments have been taking place against the background of the phasing-out of the Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA). This agreement is intended to provide for the full deregulation of the world trade in textiles by 2004, but progress to date has been somewhat mixed. In particular, the reluctance on the part of many of the developed nations to phase-out the MFA has preserved excess productive capacity in the world fibre and textiles market.

The intensity of global competition over the last 20 years has caused a major change in the structure of the fibre industry in the UK. Size is becoming a pre-requisite for industrial success for a variety of reasons. The industry is now highly capital-intensive, both in terms of manufacturing capacity and technology, while unpredictable fluctuations in demand and supply can put a severe strain on a company's working capital requirements. Furthermore, the relative maturity of the UK market means that companies are being forced to expand their international operations. With economies of scale increasingly important, many of the smaller and less efficient companies have left the industry.

The outlook for the fibre industry in the UK is mixed. Those companies which have already undertaken restructuring and continue to invest in new technology are better placed than many of their European rivals to compete on a world stage. They are also benefiting from the strong domestic economy, although their cost competitiveness has been undermined recently by the strength of sterling. On the other hand, producers of `traditional', low-value commodity-type items will continue to lose market share to overseas competitors.

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