The global technical textile market that was worth $133.93 billion in 2012 is expected to reach up to $160.38 billion by 2018. It also predicts that in terms of volume the global demand will grow at a temperate CAGR of 3.3 per cent from 2012 to 2018 and reach 30.71 million tonnes by the end of 2018.

In their May report, the USDA has released its first complete set of estimates for an upcoming crop year. The projection for world production in 2015-16 is 111.3 million bales, which represents an 8.0 million bale decrease (-6.7 per cent) relative to the 119.3 million bales harvested in 2014-15.

Textile industry, like any other industry, has been grappling with the problem of energy crisis for a long time. But slowly, this may snowball into a major crisis and at a time when the Government is pinning high hopes on textile industry as a driver of economic growth, such a situation is not desirable.

ITMA returning to Milan after a gap of 20 years has kindled the high hopes of the Italian textile machinery industry. Already, the first quarters of 2015 has brought in new hopes for the industry with the order book showing a moderate growth of 8 per cent.

Swiss-based Santex Group has decided to improve the local sales organisation in India in the segment of technical textiles. As of April, Santex named Jude Britto as Head of Sales (Technical Textiles and Emerging Technologies). He has been with Santex Engineering India PVT Ltd, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Santex Group in Coimbatore for nearly 11 years.

The International OEKO-TEX® Association has introduced Georg Dieners as the new General Secretary. The trained textile engineer will take over from Dr Jean-Pierre Haug, who, after providing extensive training

Ambitious yarn spinners quickly learn that key performance indicators are closely linked with quality ´ especially at the higher levels of the market, as an example from China shows. Achieving consistent quality, reducing waste and avoiding the risk of packages ruined by outliers are critical objectives, attainable only by implementing systematic quality management.

In the first quarter of 2015, Oerlikon continued to deliver a solid performance in a challenging market environment. Order intake went up by 17.0 per cent to CHF 793 million and sales increased by 10.1 per cent to CHF 782 million. For the 13th consecutive quarter, the EBITDA margin exceeded 15 per cent, coming in at 16.8 per cent.

Since April 1, 2015, Peter Spiller has taken over the sales area from Horst Lüchinger, which is going to be retired. Spiller will be responsible for the sales and promotion of the well-known SSM products in the Far Eastern region. For more than sixteen years, Lüchinger earned large merits in organising and establishing SSM´s presence in the Far East.