World Markets for Textile Machinery: Part 3—Finishing

摘要

2007 was a mixed year for the international textile finishing machinery market. There was an increase in global deliveries of mercerising equipment. However, shipments of machinery for continuous bleaching, dyeing and washing declined, while purchases of stentering machinery remained more or less unchanged. As many as 31 machines for mercerising—a process which increases a fabric's affinity for dye—were delivered to the world's mills in 2007. This represented an increase on the 23 machines delivered in 2006 although it fell short of the 37 machines purchased by the world's mills in 2005. All 31 machines delivered in 2007 were for treating woven fabrics. Deliveries of machines for continuous bleaching, dyeing and washing fell from 125 in 2006 to 117 in 2007. Most of the 2007 total were for processing woven fabrics. 25 of the 117 were bleaching machines, which are used to improve a fabric's whiteness. A further 32 were for dyeing—a process used to impart colour to textiles. Of these, 11 were for cold pad-batch dyeing—a more environmentally friendly technique than conventional dyeing methods—for use in the coloration of knitted fabrics. The remaining continuous machines, numbering 60 of the 117 total, were used for washing. In the case of drying equipment, shipments of stentering machines, or stenters, rose slightly from 151 in 2006 to 153 in 2007, although this number fell short of the 166 machines shipped in 2005. The increase in 2007 was due entirely to a rise in shipments of machinery for drying knitted fabrics. The number of stenters used for woven fabrics fell from 60 to 57, but the number used for knitted fabrics rose from 91 to 96. In the case of controlled compressive shrinkage machinery—which is used to stabilise fabrics in order to minimise shrinkage after the fabrics have been made up into garments—22 machines for processing woven fabrics were delivered to the world's mills in 2007. Meanwhile, ten continuous relaxation drying machines for processing knitted fabrics were delivered, and half of these went to mills in India alone.