SPECIALITY YARNS
From Trickle to Tide…..

Many specialised yarns are gaining importance in recent times over conventional yarns, elaborates an ITJ exclusive feature.

It was a trickle a decade ago, but now speciality yarns are flooding the market. Boom in fashion, fast growth of technical textiles and newly emerging areas like leisurewear and sportswear are fueling the growth of speciality yarns.

Avinash Mayekar, MD & CEO of Suvin Advisors, thinks that India has already positioned strongly in international market in terms of conventional yarns, but now time has come to understand the importance of value addition in textile yarns. He added, “Umpteen numbers of different yarns are developed in international market depending upon the properties, end-uses, different finishes, different textures and different looks. Global trend will be shifting from occasion specific clothing to function-based clothing where fabric properties will be playing major role. Some of the trends like temperature controlled and IT embedded technical garments will be gaining more importance in coming future. Increasing awareness on climatic changes, global warming, eco-friendly concept and enormous industrial growth will be leading to more focus on functional clothing than need specific clothing.”

He added, “Many specialised yarns are gaining importance in recent times over conventional yarns because of their physical or chemical properties. Fully degradable Tencel yarn manufactured from wood pulp is soft as silk, strong as polyester, cool as linen, warm as wool and as absorbent as cotton. Tencel is not only environmentally friendly, but also has been designed to be a lovely and wearable fibre. Modal is a semi synthetic cellulose and is used alone or blended with other fibres.

It offers soft hand-feel, good drapability and comfort while wearing. It has good moisture regain and air permeability which is often considered better than cotton fabric; hence it is used in household items such as pajamas, towels, bathrobes, under garments and bed sheets. It is a good material for exercise clothing and health suit, which can serve to benefit physiology circulation and health of the body.”

Rhodia, a Solvay Group company, launched worldwide the world’s first biodegradable polyamide yarn in the event, Amni Soul Eco®. Developed over five years of researches, Amni Soul Eco® is a polyamide 6.6 textile yarn, which has been formulated to allow garments made with this innovative technology to quickly decompose after being properly disposed of in landfills, making the articles environmentally-friendly. While other fibres take decades to decompose, it only takes about three years for Amni Soul Eco® to disappear from the planet. The yarn arrived at last year’s ITMA Milano fair as a finalist of the ITMA 2015 Future Material Award, as the Best Innovation — Sustainable Textiles category.

Very recently, German scientists have developed a new versatile functional yarn, which aims to give maximum comfort and has excellent thermal insulation properties. Working in partnership with Zwickauer Kammgarn GmbH and Helmut Peterseim Strickwaren GmbH in Mühlhausen, researchers at the Hohenstein Institute in Bönnigheim, have developed an innovative new yarn for knitted textiles.

The new hybrid yarn HP2G combines the benefits of synthetic fibres with those of wool fibres, a combination which is said to guarantee excellent thermal insulation, while sweat is transported away efficiently and the fabric dries quickly. The yarn is also said to have good resistance to pilling.

Com4® yarns are yarns that fulfill the most exacting requirements and ensure competitiveness in a dynamic market. Thanks to mature technologies, yarn production in Rieter ring, compact, rotor and air-jet spinning processes demonstrates a high level of efficiency and achieves excellent yarn quality. Rieter customers profit from optimised production costs and good selling outlets. The benefits of the Com4® yarns are also visible in downstream processing and in the final product, e.g. from high processing speeds, less fibre fly and low size pick-up through to excellent pilling values, low spirality tendency and high wearing comfort.

Project leader Martin Harnisch from the Hohenstein Institute sees excellent potential for the newly developed yarn – especially for sportswear. “Garments made from this yarn have very good sweat management properties and at the same time provide excellent thermal insulation. Being properly protected from the cold is really important, especially during rest periods after strenuous physical activity, when it has been found that the body loses a great deal of heat,” Harnisch says.

Production and processing technologies have been adapted to suit the newly designed yarn and enable problem-free series production. In addition to the areas of application mentioned, the researchers say that the very special properties of this innovative yarn open up other potential new applications — for example for furnishing fabrics or automotive seating fabrics.

Some sources in India say, the total production of speciality and technical yarn is about 60-80 million kg yearly, a small proportion of the over 4,500 million kg of yarn of all kinds produced in India. But this manufacture is predominantly export-oriented. But now there seems to be a boom, and we have our own desi speciality yarns like LIVA from the Grasim Industries and INVIYA® from the Indorama Group.

Mayekar says that some of the Indian players are capitalising global opportunities. He gave some examples of speciality fibres and yarns that are doing well in the market. He said, “Classic example is Recron® – a polyester fibre brand of Reliance Industries. It is developed in wide ranges depending on applications like Recron® Easy Stretch, Recron® FR ( Fire retardant), Recron® LP (low-pill tow and fibre), Recron® Super bright, Recron® Dyefast, Recron® Micrelle, Recron® 3S, Recron® Superdye, and many more. Similarly, Aditya Birla Group has come out with various finishes for viscose fibre.”

RS Baalagurunathan, MD of Tamil Nadu-based Anandi Enterprises, speaks on various speciality yarns and fibres offered by his company. He says, “The special products which we are producing are recycle cotton, recycle cotton with recycle poly, BCI cotton, authentic organic cotton, fair trade organic and e-mélange. We deal with retail brand buyers like Levis, M&S, C&A, H&M, Diesel, etc. We are doing 100 per cent organic cotton with herbal dyed fabric.”

Viscose fibre

Viscose is one of the oldest manmade fibres known to mankind. Viscose fibres are made from the viscose obtained from dissolving grade wood pulp, which provides these fibres. Grasim is India’s pioneer in viscose staple fibre (VSF), a man-made, biodegradable fibre with characteristics akin to cotton. As an extremely versatile and easily blendable fibre, VSF is widely used in apparels, home textiles, dress material, knitted wear and non-woven applications.

After two years of intense research, Grasim’s Cellulose Division has breathed a new lease of life into VSF with the launch of a new revolution in fabric christened LIVA last year.

KK Maheshwari, ex-Group Business Director – Fibres and Textiles, and Managing Director, Grasim, said, “The decision by Grasim to continue to invest in cellulose fibre is based on the belief that this fibre is natural, eco-friendly and will always be in demand due to its intrinsically good properties of fluidity, being natural and may be ideally suited for fashion due to the vibrant of colours that we provide. Based on this belief, Aditya Birla Group has continued to invest both in growing the size of the business and improving its environmental footprint. Also, the shift of the textile industry to Asia fits very well with Aditya Birla Group’s strong presence in the textile value chain in Asia.”

“We believe that VSF has a strong value proposition as a fashion fibre and goes extremely well for women’s wear due to the fluidity it provides and the grace with which the women can wear it. The fact that it’s a natural product coming from wood and is biodegradable also meets the expectations of customer’s desired natural product”, he added.

Spandex

Spandex, also known as elastane is a commonly known synthetic fibre widely used in the clothing and medical industry due to its exceptional elastic properties. The spandex fibre market is estimated to reach $5.40 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent between 2015 and 2020.

Haining Xin Gao Fibres Co Ltd (HXG), China is also a leading company in this specialised spandex, and is keen to enter the Indian market in a big way. In India, Mumbai-based Stuti Exports Pvt Ltd has been the official representative for the products of HXG and has been associated with them for more than two years.

Viraj Roongta, Director – Sales & Marketing of Stuti Exports Pvt Ltd, said, “This company is maintaining filament stretch yarn, which is a combination of TTT and PET. It is a bicomponent filament. The advantage of this product is that it has a stretch, which is a comfort stretch, and the recovery is always 100 per cent. That is the main idea behind this. The application areas of this product include denims, shirtings, knits, etc. Some people are even using this product in home textiles. Since this is a multi-filament yarn, when we use this, the hand feel is also good. Core spinning yarn is again very simple whether it can be single core spinning or dual core spinning. It is a specialised product.”

“Other advantages of this particular yarn will be related to user processing, because you can do a normal polyester dyeing and finishing and use the yarn. No need to take any particular precaution,” he said.

Indorama Group is one of the leaders in spandex products in India. The company’s INVIYA® is a new age spandex (elastane) fibre made of advance polymer having long lasting elasticity with robust performance during textile processes. With its exceptional qualities of stretch and recovery, it provides perfect fit and shape with enhanced comfort and freedom of movement. INVIYA® fibre can stretch up to six times of its original length with excellent recovery providing long lasting fit and shape to the garment.

INVIYA® I–300 is a new series specifically developed for wide applications due to its high tenacity and better frictional properties, enabling it to run at high speed in core spinning, draw texturing and circular knitting. High heat resistance properties of INVIYA® I–300 retain its high stretch power even after re-dyeing and repeated washes. Specially developed for denims, ready-to-wear, active-wear, shape-wear and intimate-wear for high performance and durability. INVIYA® I–300 in bare or covered form can be combined with various textiles raw materials like cotton, polyamide, polyester, viscose, linen, silk, cashmere and wool. It retains its power well during fabric processing like heat-set, dyeing, finishing, etc. under controlled conditions. This feature makes INVIYA® I–300 a unique and revolutionary fibre, which enhances fabric performance with higher stretch, low growth, and excellent dimensional stability.

Bamboo fibre

According to some sources, by 2015, the Indian bamboo industry is estimated to grow into a $5.7 billion sector as against $574 million in 2000, a 10-fold increase provided all the factors are favourable and all stakeholders from farmers to manufactures in the entire segment will get benefited. The commercial consumption of bamboo in globally is worth of around $10 billion, which is expected to reach $20 billion by 2015. To make bamboo cultivation more attractive for farmers, the Agriculture Ministry has been pressing the government for declaring it a horticulture crop. Once India makes it attractive for farmers to grow bamboo as a cash crop and sets up the infrastructure to tap its commercial potential through value addition, the country would be well placed to build upon its rich biodiversity of 136 bamboo species.

“Bamboo fibre are used in knitting, weaving and garmenting. Even the apparel industry has started using bamboo fibres. In apparel industry, it is used mainly in t-shirts, hoodies, socks, and even undergarments. It is also used in medical textiles and sportswear,” said Kishan Kashiwala, Chairman of Gujarat-based Spinning King (India) Limited.

Spinning King (India) Limited’s unique fibre Tanboocel is PVA fibre and PVA yarn and is 100 per cent linen. It is used in bamboo fabrics and garments, towels, bathrobes beeding and child care products. It is also used in soya fabrics, milk fabrics, cashmere fabrics and garments.

SPECIALTY YARN
Future of Indian spinning industry
                                                            – Avinash Mayekar, MD & CEO of Suvin Advisors

“I nnovate – for survival” in today’s dynamic marketing condition has to be a mantra for Indian spinning industry. Textile industry has presence in India since ancient times. Today, Indian textile industry is one of the major contributors on world map. India is the second largest producer of fibre in the world. The major fibre produced is cotton and other fibres like silk, jute, wool, and man-made fibres are also produced in abundance which makes India as hub for spinning sector. Indian cotton spinning industry is second largest in the world after China. Indian textile industry accounts for about 24 per cent of the world’s spindle capacity and 8 per cent of global rotor capacity. Though, Indian spinning industry is one of largest in the world, when it comes to value addition, there is no much value addition been done in yarn. Cotton contributes to major portion of total yarn production in India.

Indian scenario

Now, slowly spinners have started responding to the fashion market and technological advancement and started adding value to their yarns. The fundamental strength of the Indian textile industry is its strong production base of wide range of fibre/yarns from natural fibres like cotton, jute, silk and wool to synthetic /man-made fibres like polyester, viscose, nylon and acrylic. During April 2014-February 2015, total yarn output grew by a mere 1.5 per cent.

Some of the Indian players are capitalising on global opportunities. Classic example is Recron® – a polyester fibre brand of Reliance Industries. It is developed in wide ranges depending on applications like Recron® Easy Stretch, Recron® FR ( Fire retardant), Recron® LP (low-pill tow and fibre), Recron® Super bright, Recron® Dyefast, Recron® Micrelle, Recron® 3S, Recron® Superdye, and many more. Similarly, Aditya Birla Group has come out with various finishes for viscose fibre.

Global trends

India has already positioned strongly in international market in terms of conventional yarns, now time has come to understand the importance of value addition in textile yarns. Umpteen numbers of different yarns are developed in international market depending upon the properties, end-uses, different finishes, different textures and different looks. Global trend will be shifting from occasion specific clothing to function based clothing where fabric properties will be playing major role. Some of the trends like temperature controlled and IT embedded technical garments will be gaining more importance in coming future. Increasing awareness on climatic changes, global warming, eco-friendly concept and enormous industrial growth will be leading to more focus on functional clothing than need specific clothing. These clothing are manufactured from yarns having inherent functional properties or imparting specific properties to the conventional yarns by applying different finishes depending upon their end-use. Technological advancement plays an important role in development of specialised yarns, which differ according to their specific properties and end-uses. Different categories of specialised yarns are available in market like Modal, Tencel, Coolmax, Cuproammonium Rayon, Kermel®, ThermoCool, Recron®, bamboo, linen, acrylic, aramid and many more.

Many specialised yarns are gaining importance in recent times over conventional yarns because of their physical or chemical properties. Fully degradable Tencel yarn manufactured from wood pulp is soft as silk, strong as polyester, cool as linen, warm as wool and as absorbent as cotton. Tencel is not only environmentally friendly, but also has been designed to be a lovely and wearable fibre. Modal is a semi synthetic cellulose and is used alone or blended with other fibres. It offers soft hand-feel, good drapebility and comfort while wearing. It has good moisture regain and air permeability which is often considered better than cotton fabric; hence it is used in household items such as pajamas, towels, bathrobes, under garments and bed sheets. It is a good material for exercise clothing and health suit, which can serve to benefit physiology circulation and health of the body.

Coolmax, a trademark of Invista, is specially-engineered polyester fibre to improve “breathability” compared to natural fibres like cotton. The series of closely spaced channels creates capillary action that wicks moisture through the core and out to a wider area on the surface of the fabric which increases evaporation and now often woven with other materials like cotton, wool, Spandex and Tencel. Properties of CoolMax fabric allows wearer to keep sweat free hence it is widely used in garments of mountain climbing gear, casual sportswear, underwear and mattress covers. Other useful properties include resistance to fading, shrinking and wrinkling. Cuprammonium rayon is also a specialised yarn used in lightweight summer dresses and blouses, sometimes in combination with cotton to make textured fabrics with slubbed, uneven surfaces.

Several other fibres are widely used in various industrial and other functional applications like dope dyed polyester yarns used in high visibility garments; Kermel® having properties of non- inflammability, resistance to high temperature, resistance to abrasion, resistance to chemicals majorly used in protective clothing; ThermoCool fibre/yarns are specifically designed to optimise the body’s natural thermo regulating capabilities through unique smart fibre cross sections that provide evaporative cooling or thermo-buffering according to the body’s needs. The garments produced from spun ThermoCool keep the body warm when it is cold and cool when it is hot leading to total body comfort and garment moisture management majorly used in active sports wear.

Stretch yarns, which are manufactured from Elastane fibre, is commonly termed as lycra or spandex. Its applications in industry are mostly for body conforming garments such as sportswear, foundation garments, jeans and intimate apparel, which ensures a stable shape while wearing. Other outstanding features beside shape retention are higher elasticity, smooth and supple hand-feel, lower moisture regain, resistance to pilling and resistance to abrasion. Global demand of stretch yarn will soar up in coming years because of increasing population.

There are other products like organic cotton, compact, CSY, melange, slub, multi count, gassed, mercerised, fancy yarns, and polyester/nylon filament yarn like DTY, FDY and POY in knitting and weaving also capturing huge markets. India has started adapting to the recent innovations and value additions especially in yarns even though; the market for these specialised yarns is in nascent stage. India being second largest producer of textile and apparel in the world, time has come to focus more on new market and capitalise new opportunities rather than focusing on same traditional ‘conventional’ yarn market.

Indian economy is in transition phase. Increase in youth population, urbanisation, globalisation, industrial growth, adaptation of western culture, high disposable income and increase in awareness of health and hygiene are key drivers for growth of specialised yarn markets.

These higher value yarn markets will help not only adding into profit levels but also reduce bottleneck competitions. Strong R&D will be backbone to develop wide ranges of specialised yarn. Indian investors can upgrade technologies by associating with technical consultant and open new avenues to the global markets.

HXG offers unique stretch filament yarns

The use of spandex yarns has been well known, increasing worldwide year by year. According to a report from Markets and Markets, the market for spandex products is estimated to touch $5.40 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 7.2 per cent between 2015 and 2020. Haining Xin Gao Fibres Co Ltd (HXG), China is also a leading company in this specialised spandex, and is keen to enter the Indian market in a big way. Midy Chen, HXG’s Sales Manager was in Mumbai recently attending a specialised exhibition, Fibers & Yarns 2016, organised by Tecoya Infotech, a textile event management company.

Established in Haining City, Zhejiang Province, China in 2001 as a state-of-the-art manufacturer of melt-spun spandex, HXG introduced speciality filament yarn capacity separately to its spandex workshop in 2006 and expanded in 2015 to allow production of bicomponent filament yarns from a variety of thermoplastic polymers. HXG from China belongs to a group called Cha Technologies Group, a Fortune 500 company with an annual group turnover around $10 billion.

In India, Mumbai-based Stuti Exports Pvt Ltd has been the official representative for the products of HXG and has been associated with them for more than two years. In an exclusive interaction with the ITJ, Viraj Roongta, Director – Sales & Marketing of Stuti Exports Pvt Ltd, said “We are the official representative for Haining Xin Gao Fibres Ltd in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. We represent them in these three countries.”

Speaking on stretch yarn produced by HXG, Roongta said, “This company is maintaining filament stretch yarn, which is a combination of TTT and PET. It is a bicomponent filament. The advantage of this product is that it has a stretch, which is a comfort stretch, and the recovery is always 100 per cent. That is the main idea behind this. The application areas of this product include denims, shirtings, knits, etc. Some people are even using this product in home textiles. Since this is a multi-filament yarn, when we use this, the hand feel is also good. Core spinning yarn is again very simple whether it can be single core spinning or dual core spinning. It is a specialised product.”

“Other advantages of this particular yarn will be related to user processing, because you can do a normal polyester dyeing and finishing and use the yarn. No need to take any particular precaution,” he said.

According to Roongta, the response for this is building up because people are slowly understanding the advantages in using this. “The potentials for this product to grow in India are good. This filament can be used in the core which is one area. It can also be used directly, which is the other area where it can be used in weft.”

Spandex gives excellent stretch and is popular in hosiery and sweater applications. HXG site quickly expanded to increase capacity and improve product quality. HXG produces a range of melt-spun spandex monofilament yarns in deniers 10 dpf to 40 dpf:

* Clear spandex: Possesses comfortable stretch, suitable for use in hosiery, underwear and sweaters.
* Coloured spandex: Used in high-grade fabrics where no fabric dyeing is required. Colour is introduced at extrusion stage (dope-dyeing), making it inherent to the yarn. A variety of colour options are available.
* Low melt spandex: High performance product, which is ladder resistant (anti-run), perfect for hosiery.

For further information:
Midy Chen
Email: Jianfeng.chen@hxgfibres-cn.com

Viraj Roongta
Email: v.roongta@stutiexports.com

“Indian market for speciality fibres & yarns is improving”

Indian market for speciality fibres and yarns is improving with sustained quality. In an interview with the ITJ team, RS Baalagurunathan, Managing Director of Anandi Enterprises, speaks on various speciality fibres and yarns offered by his company.

What are the special products in these categories that your company deals with?

The special products which we are producing are recycled cotton, recycled cotton with recycled poly, BCI cotton, authentic organic cotton, fair trade organic and e-mélange. We deal with retail brand buyers like Levis, M&S, C&A, H&M, Diesel, etc. We are doing 100 per cent organic cotton with herbal dyed fabric.

What are the special characteristics of speciality products of your company? What are its various applications?

The special products which we are producing are sustainable.

Recycle cotton and recycled cotton and recycled poly: We are reproducing recycled cotton yarn from used garments and recycled poly from used pet bottles.

BCI cotton: Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) aims to promote measurable improvements of cotton cultivation to make it more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. BCI’s philosophy is to develop a market for better cotton and thereby bring long-term benefits for the environment, farmers and other people dependent on cotton for their livelihood.

Authentic organic cotton: We are having farms with about 3,000 farmers producing 100 per cent pure organic cotton with non GMO (non Bt) seeds used. This project is certified by the Control Union.

Fair-trade organic: The fair-trade label is the only label that includes a guaranteed fair-trade premium for community projects. The buyer pays the premium for each purchase directly onto a separate premium account held by respective producer organisation. Smallholder farmers and workers decide independently and democratically which projects they want to carry out with this premium. Some examples of these are building wells and schools, converting to organic agriculture or subsidised doctor’s appointments.

E-mélange: This melange fabric is 100 per cent cotton with fibre treated yarn. When we dye the fabric, the fabric gets the melange effect after the process. In this process, there is no need to use salt and soda for colour fixation, and only 20-25 minutes is enough to absorb the colours. Because of non usage of salt and soda, it reduces the load in ETP in dyeing, spending more money for salt separation. Also it is eco-friendly.

What are your company’s experiences in the export markets?

We export mostly to the South East countries.

All I can say is that the market for speciality fibres and yarns is improving.

What are your views on the current yarns available globally and in the domestic market? If you have a wish-list for the industry and the government to boost India’s share in speciality yarns & fibres, please share with us.

For sustainable products, the government has to provide no tax and no duty to recycle polyester so that we are able to give the garments in cheaper PRX. Also we are able to compete with China and provide subsidies for exporting sustainable products with certification.

Global yarn and fabric output down in Q4/2015

The global yarn production fell in Q4/2015 quarter-on-quarter, the first decline in a year. Thereby, output in Europe increased on a quarterly basis, while it decreased in the other regions (Asia, North and South America). On an annual basis, the global yarn production in Q4/2015 improved in tow with increases in Asia. In Europe, North and South America yarn production fell year-on-year. Global yarn stocks in Q4/2015 rose quarter-on-quarter as well as year-on-year. Thereby, all regions except for South America reported that stocks were increased on a quarterly basis. Yarn orders in Europe rose and in South America they fell quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year they increased in Europe and fell in South America.

Global fabric production fell in Q4/2015 against Q3/2015 due to decreases in Asia and South America. In Europe fabric production increased. On an annual basis global fabric output also declined. Thereby, Asian and South American output fell, while fabric production in Europe rose. In Q4/2015, Worldwide fabric stocks were reduced quarter-on-quarter in all regions. Global fabric inventories were also reduced year-on-year. In Q4/2015, European and South American fabric orders decreased quarter-on-quarter. Fabric orders increased on an yearly basis in Europe and they fell in South America.

Estimates signal an unchanged global yarn production for Q1/2016 and an increase for fabric output. The global outlook for yarn hints at an unchanged output for Q2/2016 and at an increase for fabric production.

In Q4/2015, global yarn production fell by nearly 26 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Thereby, Asian yarn output declined by 27 per cent quarter-on-quarter and by 15 per cent in North America. In Europe it rose by 15 per cent and in South America output fell by 19 per cent. Global yarn output grew by 11 per cent in Q4/2015 versus Q4/2014. The annual percentage change of yarn output in Asia amounted to 12 per cent. In North America, in Europe and in South America yarn production fell by 3 per cent, 2 per cent and 28 per cent year-on-year, respectively.

Global fabric production declined by over 1 per cent in Q4/2015 against the previous quarter. While Asian and South American output fell by 1 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, European fabric production improved by 13 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Year-on-year, global fabric fell by 2 per cent. Thereby, Asian and South American production fell by 2 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, while output levels in Europe increased by 6 per cent.

Global yarn inventories increased in Q4/2015 by 0.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter with increases of 0.4 per cent in Asia and 6 per cent in Europe. They fell by 1 per cent in South America. In Q4/2015, the annual percentage change of global yarn inventories recorded an increase of 12 per cent. Thereby, yarn stocks grew by 11 per cent year-on-year in Asia, by 3 per cent in Europe and by 37 per cent in South America.

Worldwide fabric stocks fell by 2.6 per cent in Q4/2015 versus Q3/2015. Stocks in Asia, Europe, North and South America were reduced by 0.5 per cent, 2 per cent, 0.7 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. On a yearly basis global fabric inventories in Q4/2015 fell by 0.5 per cent. Thereby, they grew by 0.6 per cent in Asia and fell by around 1 per cent in North and South America and in Europe, respectively. In Q4/2015, European yarn orders rose by over 4 per cent quarter-on-quarter and by 0.3 per cent year-on-year. In South America they fell by 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter and by 47 per cent YoY. European fabric orders in Q4/2015 fell by 0.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter and i