Xinxiang, Henan – Xinxiang Chemical Fiber (XCF) announced in December 2013 its financing plan for a 20kT/year new super soft spandex fiber facility in northern China’s Xinxiang city.
The company expects to pump RMB900mn ($148mn) into the new plant, which is the first phase of a larger project totaling 40kT/year capacity. The phase-one construction is scheduled to begin in February 2014 and to be completed in July 2015. The company has not released details of its proposed second phase.
XCF said the new facility will use continuous polymerization and dry spinning. The firm anticipates this will 35% of the energy used by the previous method and have the same quality as similar products westen products.
According to XCF's feasibility report, China's spandex demand has had a 10% average annual growth rate for the past decade, which means there will be 40 to 50kT/year additional demand in the next few years. In 2012 the company produced 14,000 tonnes of spandex fiber, up 78% from 2011.
Huafeng Spandex, China's largest spandex manufacturer in Ruian, Zhejiang province, also finalized its plan for a 60kT/year new spandex project in August 2013. The RMB2bn project has been under development in Chongqing, with phase-one planned to start operation in December 2014 and phase-two in August 2016.
