Of course, fiber prices reflect supply and demand, but the relationship is not always clear, and not always immediate. At any moment one side of the equation can be stronger than the other, and not in any obvious way. It also applies that fiber prices influence supply and demand; this being quite often obscured by events coming out of sequence across time, and out of line across regions. And, with such an extensive supply chain, the textile system has to operate with prices all along its length moving in different ways. Prices upstream (as oil and petrochemicals for example) can be far more volatile than prices at retail where the upstream element of total cost is quite small. An increase in the fiber price of 20% might only show as a 1 % increase in cost at retail, and therefore prove very difficult to enact. In such a complex market as fibers and textiles, nothing is straightforward.
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