World fibre production fell by 2.4% in 2005.The cause of the decline was a 6.9% drop in raw cotton output.Man-made fibre production increased,although growth was confined to China and South-East Asia.The bulk of the increase in man-made fibre production was attributable to growth in synthetics,especially polyester.However,cellulosic fibre output grew faster.The fall in cotton output led to a 6.5% decline in natural fibre production in 2005.As a result,the share of natural fibres in global fibre production fell to 42.9%,thus reversing some of the gains made in the previous year.Meanwhile,lower prices led to an increase in wool consumption-although the increase was only 0.8%.
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