Rising in step with higher cotton fabric exports described here, cotton fabric production rose both in May and year to date. Surpassing 2.46 billion square meters, volume is up 3.8% from a year earlier, bringing 2008 output up 6.6% from the first five months of 2007. At the current pace of production, Globecot forecasts 2008 Chinese cotton fabric output will rise to a record 29.7 billion square meters.

Total fabric production rose even faster both in May and year to date, prompted by faster output of chemical fiber fabrics. At a record 4.82 billion square meters, aggregate fabric output in May is up 13.1% from a year earlier, pegging year-to-date production up 14.5% from the same period last year. Globecot anticipates 2008 fabric production will rise to a record 57.5 billion square meters this year.

With total fabric output in 2008 rising faster than cotton fabric production, this implies erosion in cotton share. Compared to this period last year, cotton’s share of total fabric production is down 3.6 percentage points to a 51.1% share—the lowest in seven years—while chemical fiber fabric share offset the decline, rising 3.8% to a record high 32.0% share so far this year. In fact, this growth in chemical fiber share continues a trend, up fourteen of the last sixteen years.