Western Europe’s man-made fibre industry supplies a large single European market, but a growing proportion is supplied by fibre imports. Rapid growth in imports of fabrics and garments is causing many of the fibre industry’s long-established customers - European textile and garment mills - to close down. Efforts by West European producers to expand exports outside the region are hampered by burgeoning capacity growth in East and South East Asia.

The report examines the response of producers who have formed joint ventures with other European companies and with major players in the USA and the Far East, and describes the actions being taken by producers to increase profits in an increasingly hostile environment. It charts the fast expanding internationalisation strategies being deployed by the leading producers and contains forecasts of future production and consumption in the region.