Vegetable fibers world production

The principal bast and leaf fibers are produced in yields of 2-5%. with some exceptions such as flax (I Slid and kapok 11 7%). on a green plant basis. Vegetable fiber production on lire world market has dropped 25-3.VJ1 since 1970 because of periods of economic recession and synthetic fiber replacements. Imports of vegetable fibers have dropped 70-90% since... 

Recent work by the USDA and Kcnaf International (Texas) has demonstrated the potential of both growing and processing kcnaf fibers for newsprinl and other paper products in the United States. Another promising potential use for vegetable fibers is in the new lignocellulosic-hased composites under development in various parts of the industrialized world. Such products are already utilized in the automotive industry for automobile interior door and head liners and as trunk liners. 

Cotton (Figure 1.1) is the most important natural textile fiber, as well as cellulosic textile fiber, in the world, used to produce apparel, home furnishings, and industrial products. Worldwide about 40% of the fiber consumed in 2004 was cotton [1]. (See also Table 9.1 World Production of Textile Fibers on page 130.) Cotton is grown mostly for fiber but it is also a food crop (cottonseed)—the major end uses for cottonseeds are vegetable oil for human consumption whole seed, meal, and hulls for animal feed and linters for batting and chemical cellulose. 

Table 6. World Production (10 t) of Major Vegetable Fibers in 2002 ...

Vegetable fiber production on the world market has dropped substantially because of periods of economic recession and synthetic fiber replacements. U.S. imports of vegetable fibers have also dropped in recent years for similar reasons (with the exception of flax wastes). The precipitous decline in jute exports from India are shown in Figure 2. Although most vegetable fibers are converted to lower cost commodity products, some of the fibers are converted into the most expensive products in their respective industries, eg, U.S. currency (paper). 

Cotton is the most important natural vegetable textile fiber used in the world for spinning to produce apparel, home furnishings, and industrial products [614,615]. It continues to be one... 

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