From the Sector

• Smart Workflows for Digital Cutting & Kitting

At JEC World 2022 in Paris, Zünd presents the latest developments in modular cutting solutions for composites. Known for its expertise in digital cutting and workflow integration.
As specialist in digital cutting for composites applications, Zünd demonstrates how data management, digital cutting, and downstream processes such as picking, sorting, and kitting, can be automated intelligently and based on specific needs.

In Industry 4.0 in general and processing composites in particular, an unencumbered flow of data is key to workflow efficiency. With Zünd PreCut Center, the user is well equipped to handle the challenges of demanding manufacturing processes. The software automatically optimizes contours and adjusts cut paths depending on the material and choice of tools. With the integrated nesting function, parts are laid out automatically for optimal material utilization. Considering the high cost of materials, maximum yield is essential for economical digital cutting.

With Pick&Place, Zünd presents a cost-effective solution for fully automated picking and kitting of cut parts. The Pick&Place interface enables direct communication with the robot via Zünd Cut Center – ZCC, the Zünd operating software and user interface. Pick&Place makes it possible to completely automate parts removal, kitting and placing. The necessary parameters are derived from the metadata supplied with the job order.

Latest trade data (January-September 2021) show a dramatic drop of imports and exports of textile goods between the EU and UK, with significant losses for companies on both sides. The situation is likely to get worse, as the full customs regime between UK and EU has entered into force on 1 January 2022. EURATEX calls on the European Union and the United Kingdom to effectively cooperate to remove the issues in the EU-UK Trade agreement that prevent smooth trade flows.  

All the sectors have been already suffering a significant loss in the past year and textiles has been no exception. Compared to the same period in 2020, between January and September the EU recorded a dramatic fall in imports (-44%, corresponding to almost € 2 billion) and in exports (-22%, corresponding to € 1.6 billion). The data show that the most impacted EU countries on the export side are Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany while on the import side the most impacted countries are Germany, Ireland and France. Among the T&C sectors, clothing articles are facing the most severe drop in both imports and exports, corresponding to a total trade loss of more than € 3.4 billion over the 9 months period. Despite these alarming figures, the UK continues to be the most important export market for EU textiles and clothing.

Concerning the impact on the UK textiles sector, in May 2021 the UK Fashion and Textile Association’s (UKFT) surveyed 138 businesses, including leading UK fashion brands, UK textile manufacturers, wholesalers, fashion agencies, garment manufacturers and retailers.

The results of the survey showed that:

• 71% currently rely on imports from the EU
• 92% are experiencing increased freight costs  
• 83% are experiencing increased costs and bureaucracy for customs clearance
• 53% are experiencing cancelled orders as a result of how the EU-UK agreement is being implemented
• 41% had been hit by double duties  
• The vast majority of the surveyed companies declared they are looking to pass the increased costs on to consumer in the next  6-12 months

The above situation is expected to get worse. Since 1 January, full customs controls are being implemented. It means that export and import rules have become stricter: products should already have a valid declaration in place and have received customs clearance. Export from Britain to the EU must now have supplier declarations and the commodities codes changed.  

EURATEX calls on the European Union and the United Kingdom to effectively cooperate to address, solve and remove the issues in the EU-UK Trade agreement that currently prevent smooth trade flows between the two sides of the Channel. It is causing considerable losses for textile companies both in the EU as well as in the UK. 

Strict protective measures will make the industry meeting possible at the International Conference on Cellulose Fibres in Cologne on February 2 and 3, 2022. The latest innovations will be shocased: from hygiene and textiles to non-wovens and carbon fibre alternatives to lightweight construction applications. Online participation is also possible.

Cellulose fibres show an increasingly expanding wide range of applications, while at the same time markets are driven by technological developments and political framework conditions, especially bans and restrictions on plastics and increasing sustainability requirements. The conference provides rich information on opportunities for cellulose fibres through policy assessment, a session on sustainability, recycling and alternative feedstocks as well as latest development in pulp, cellulose fibres and yarns. This includes application such as non-wovens, packaging and composites.

Live at the conference, host nova-Institute and sponsor GIG Karasek GmbH will grand the “Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year” award to one of six highly interesting products, ranging from cellulose made of orange and wood pulp to a novel technology for cellulose fibre production. The presentations, election of the winner by the conference audience and the award ceremony will take place on the first day of the conference.

The conference sessions reflect the current topics of industry and research. “Strategies and Market Trends” provides an overview of the rapid development of cellulose fibres and their technological progress across the fibre market. An analysis of the key cost components of these fibres to benchmark against current cost levels will highlight future opportunities and challenges for novel textile fibres. The session will conclude with an overview of the industry's recent strategies to defossilize the fibre market.

The session “New Opportunities for Cellulose Fibres in Replacing Plastics”, focusses on questions such as: “What impact does the ban on plastics in single-use products have on the industry?” and “What are the latest regulatory issues and policy opportunities for cellulose fibres?”. This part of the conference presents new opportunities for the replacement of fossil-based insulating materials with cellulose-based technologies suitable for use in a variety of applications, from aerospace to mobility and construction.
Institutefor Ecology and Innovation

“Sustainability and Circular Economy” highlights crucial issues with regard to the overall goal of keeping the environmental impact of cellulose fibres low. A core theme of the session is the responsible use of wood and forests. With this objective, the five speakers discuss the importance of circular concepts for cellulose feedstocks. Exciting insights into the important “Hot Button Report” are offered by Canopy. The “Hot Button” report enables the producers of cellulose fibres to better understand the impact their raw materials have on forests and the climate development worldwide.

The full conference programme is available at www.cellulose-fibres.eu/program.

• High performing face stock paper delivers convincing results for multiple applications
• Sappi product portfolio of face stock papers ist being expanded with Parade Label SG from its Gratkorn site

Sappi, manufacturer of numerous packaging and speciality papers for a wide range of markets, is launching the Parade Label SG, a one-side coated face stock label paper that excels in terms of properties such as printability, opacity and stiffness, as well as with its many options for further processing.

• Semi-gloss face stock paper with high-quality performance characteristics
• Suitable for a wide range of applications, e.g. labels for food, non-food, HABA and VIP
• Available in 77, 78 and 80 gsm
• Manufactured in Gratkorn, one of the largest and ultra-modern paper mills in Europe

Sappi offers an extensive range of base papers for wet-glue and self-adhesive labels. With its new Parade Label SG, the company is now introducing a one-side coated, semi-gloss face stock label paper that is approved for direct contact with food and that complies with DIN EN 71 for toy safety. The range of applications includes labels for food, non-food, beverages and health and beauty aids (HABA), as well as for logistics and variable information printing (VIP) due to its excellent thermal transfer printability.

The fibre-based face stock solution guarantees high-quality results in printing and finishing, through the entire production and converting chain. It features high stiffness and resilience, so the label will not be damaged and will fit accurately even after labelling.

Sappi invests in customer proximity
To ensure 100 percent availability and fast delivery of its label papers, Sappi has proactively positioned itself for the future and set the course for reliable production and seamless supply chains – with its plants in Alfeld, Carmignano and Condino. The plant in Gratkorn, where Sappi has invested in new technical equipment, has now been added to the list. With modern production facilities, from paper machines to finishing technology, as well as extensive expertise in the production of coated papers, the site has everything in place to ensure top-class products. Available capacity is being expanded gradually to include the production of Parade Label papers alongside existing graphical grades.

Because of the central location of Sappi’s production site in Gratkorn, Parade Label SG can be supplied quickly throughout Europe and beyond. The short transportation distances save greenhouse emissions and protect the environment; shorter production cycles then enable good availability and fast supply. Parade Label SG is certified for direct food contact and available in grammages of 77, 78 and 80 g/m². Sappi can provide Parade Label SG with FSC or PEFC certificates on request.

Sappi will be presenting its new developments in the field of label papers, among others, at the upcoming LabelExpo Europe in Brussels in April 2022.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, has been recognized as an “Achiever” in the Global Children's Rights and Business 2021 benchmark by the Global Child Forum. The company has been ranked 7th out of 28 global chemical companies and is the only Southeast Asia-based company included in the Basic Materials category this year.

This recognition demonstrates IVL's commitment to supporting children's rights and child-friendly business practices in the workplace, marketplace, and community and environment by adopting Children's Rights and Business Principles (CRBP) of UNICEF. The company has a wide range of initiatives that ensure children’s rights, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, and decent work and economic growth.

Chief among IVL’s contributions to children’s rights is the Recycling Education program for the younger generation. The program aims at creating awareness and providing knowledge about recycling and waste separation, in which everyone can take part. By supporting youth as a priority, the program aims to educate future business and community leaders how to lead their organizations, communities, and other consumers in doing the right thing to protect our environment. During the past few years, the program has educated almost 50,000 people of which are students from more than 100 schools. Initiated in Thailand, IVL is now expanding the Recycling Education where it operates globally.

The State of Children's Rights and Business 2021 benchmark report is produced by the Global Child Forum, a leading children’s rights organization, and the Boston Consulting Group by surveying 832 large global companies in nine industries and assessing 27 standardized metrics from its Code of Conduct. This report focuses on the rights of children along with sustainability supervision based on publicly available information.

In view of the exponential worsening of the pandemic situation worldwide and the accompanying tightened travel and contact regulations, the consumer goods fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld are cancelled for January 2022 and Ambiente for mid-February 2022. The regionally-oriented trade fair Nordstil from 15 to 17 January 2022 in Hamburg will take place at the present time.

The easing of the pandemic situation that was still hoped for in December is no longer in sight. Instead, the situation is deteriorating worldwide with an enormous, unforeseeable dynamic. This extreme deterioration due to the spread of the Omicron virus in Europe and Germany currently makes it impossible for Messe Frankfurt, as organiser of the leading international trade fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld, as well as Ambiente, to keep their dates in Frankfurt at the end of January and in mid-February 2022.

The four events, consisting of Christmasworld with its focus on seasonal and festive decorations, Paperworld and Creativeworld with their product ranges for paper, office supplies, stationery and hobby, craft and artists' requisites and Ambiente with its cross-sector range of products for the table, kitchen and housewares, furnishing and decorative accessories, home furnishing concepts, gifts and fashion accessories, are the recognised leading trade fairs in their sectors and open the trading year in their respective segments. Even in a reduced numerical form, the four trade fairs would still have been the leading events worldwide for their respective product segments.

However, the exponential increase in the number of infections worldwide in a very short period of time and the accompanying multitude of developments and decisions that are clearly outside the organiser's sphere of influence have led to a significant deterioration in the general conditions and necessary prerequisites for holding the four leading trade fairs as major events of international relevance at the end of January and in mid-February 2022 respectively. These developments include the classification of Germany as a high-risk area and the associated travel warnings and international and intercontinental travel restrictions in countries such as India, Japan and the United States, as well as the corresponding quarantine obligations. Equally important are the steadily rising infection figures and the accompanying urgent appeal, among others by the Robert Koch Institute and the expert council of the German Federal Government, to continue to reduce contacts to a minimum and to cancel all major events. At present, there are even further international fears that the critical infrastructure will not be maintained due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The majority of exhibiting and visiting companies at Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld as well as Ambiente are currently reacting to this overall situation with travel and trade fair attendance bans for reasons of duty of care towards their employees to protect them from health risks. The global willingness to travel is dropping enormously at the moment.

There are no plans to postpone the event. Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt, explains: "Since the trend-oriented order cycles of the international consumer goods industry require an annual event at the beginning of the year, a shift to the second half of the year would not meet the needs of the exhibiting companies and visitors."

Nordstil to be held in Hamburg from 15 to 17 January 2022
In the interests of the sectors involved, the planning and implementation of Nordstil from 15 to 17 January 2022 is not affected. This trade fair will take place in the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg at this time due to other general conditions for local implementation. However, the extremely volatile situation is continuously reviewed and assessed in close exchange with the relevant local authorities and industry partners.

Messe Frankfurt's digital platforms for business success
Messe Frankfurt has already been actively helping retailers to help themselves since 2019 with Nextrade, the first order and data management platform for the home and living sector, and Conzoom Solutions, an information platform for the global consumer goods sector. "A second year without appropriate ordering, inspiration and networking formats poses considerable and in some cases existentially threatening challenges for retailers worldwide," Braun explains. "With our digital offers, we are specifically supporting our partners in industry and trade in this volatile situation. In addition, we will continue to put all our energy and optimism into safe and promising trade fairs. Because there is no substitute for meeting in real life."

Information on the planning of the Frankfurt consumer goods fairs for 2023 will be announced at the beginning of February 2022.

At Pitti Uomo, Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei celebrates the new year exploring the company’s 90 years anniversary and journey. In Florence, Bemberg™ past and present are linked by style: on display are key historic garments worn by icons such as J.F. Kennedy belonging to historic Roman Sartoria Litrico together with Bemberg ™ new visionary claim “Crafted Elegance“.

On January 11^th, Bemberg™ will be at Pitti Uomo 101 featuring an exclusive collaboration with Luca Litrico, head of the Roman historic Sartoria Litrico, founded by his uncle Angelo Litrico in 1951. He became famous for crafting the highest-quality suits for all the most important men of Dolce Vita era, from Richard Burton to Marcello Mastroianni. Its historic relevance has even been recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, thanks to its archive composed of hundreds of photos and sketches signed by Angelo Litrico himself. For this occasion, Bemberg™ will showcase four historic suits wore by true style arbiters a such as: former US president John F. Kennedy, dolce vita poster-boy Rossano Brazzi, American astronaut James B. Irwin and iconic fashion designer Angelo Litrico. All garments feature stylish linings woven with Bemberg™ fiber disclosing its ductility always in vogue through time. Over the decades, Bemberg™ established heritage in formal lining has expanded into new territories and able to represent also contemporary outerwear styles.
 
“We are so excited to be back in Florence. Pitti Uomo and Italy are the perfect starting point of our journey through style.” says Mr. Koji Hamada, CEO of Asahikasei Fibers Italia, “At our booth visitors can glimpse the link between past and present, our values and chromosomes for the fashion to come.”

Bemberg™ vision is centred around contemporary beauty, and uniqueness – the fibre manufacturing is exclusively taking place in Nobeoka, where its closed-loop circular economy production approach together its transparent and traceable processes are able to guarantee the responsible certified values.
 
Bemberg™ by Asahi Kasei will unveil the second chapter of its journey at Première Vision in Paris with an exhibition where visitors will be able to explore the fashion world, from India to Japan, through fabrics and style of today and tomorrow.

• BLUEZONE & KEYHOUSE move forward to 3 - 4 May 2022

The team of the Munich Fabric Start Exhibitions GmbH has dedicated the last weeks to the finalisation of the upcoming BLUEZONE and MUNICH FABRIC START: the new measures for safe events have been implemented; the organisers are ready to welcome the industry In Munich in just a few weeks.

And the current status is impressive: more than 600 suppliers from 33 countries are registered for
MUNICH FABRIC START from which some 90 international denim mills are ready to show at BLUEZONE. In such extraordinary times, the enormous support from the industry is a milestone and anything but a matter of course.

At the same time, the ongoing dynamic situation, the ever-increasing demands on events and the enormous
planning uncertainty make the next necessary steps more difficult. With the rapidly increasing infection
rates of the Omicron variant across Europe and especially in some neighbouring countries that are
already in a new lockdown, the organisers do face very complex challenges in many respects.

After the extensive consideration of the overall situation with an extremely serious situation
in many places, the organisers feel obliged to cancel MUNICH FABRIC START Spring.Summer 23
from 25 - 27 January 2022.

With regards to BLUEZONE and KEYHOUSE, an alternative scenario will be realised:
both formats will skip the January show and move forward to 3 – 4 May 2022 as a dedicated
denim and innovation show on the Zenith grounds in Munich.

The decisive factors for this major decision are various realistic scenarios which need to be considered to occur within the coming weeks: a new lockdown in Germany with a possible event ban imposed at very short notice, further restrictions on events and additional travel restrictions.

• More than 30 leading pioneers of the chemical and material sector welcome the latest political papers from Brussels, Berlin and Düsseldorf

The political situation for renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling for the defossilisation of the chemical and materials industry has begun to shift fundamentally in Europe. For the first time, important policy papers from Brussels and Germany take into consideration that the term decarbonisation alone is not sufficient, and that there are important industrial sectors with a permanent and even growing carbon demand. Finally, the need for a sustainable coverage of this carbon demand and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles have been identified on the political stage. They are elemental to the realisation of a sustainable chemical and derived materials industry.

The goal is to create sustainable carbon cycles. This requires comprehensive carbon management of renewable sources, which includes carbon from biomass, carbon from Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) – the industrial use of CO2 as an integral part – as well as mechanical and chemical recycling. And only the use of all alternative carbon streams enables a true decoupling of the chemical and materials sector from additional fossil carbon from the ground. Only in this way can the chemical industry stay the backbone of modern society and transform into a sustainable sector that enables the achievement of global climate goals. The Renewable Carbon Initiative’s (RCI) major aim is to support the smart transition from fossil to renewable carbon: utilising carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling instead of additional fossil carbon from the ground. This is crucial because 72% of the human-made greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to additional fossil carbon. The RCI supports all renewable carbon sources available, but the political support is fragmented and differs between carbon from biomass, recycling or carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). Especially CCU has so far not been a strategic objective in the Green Deal and Fit-for-55.

This will change fundamentally with the European Commission's communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” published on 15 December. The position in the paper represents an essential step forward that shows embedded carbon has reached the political mainstream – supported by recent opinions from members of the European parliament and also, apparently, by the upcoming IPCC assessment report 6. Now, CCU becomes a recognised and credible solution for sustainable carbon cycles and a potentially sustainable option for the chemical and  material industries. Also, in the political discussions in Brussels, the term “defossilation” is appearing more and more often, complementing or replacing the term decarbonisation in those areas where carbon is indispensable. MEP Maria da Graça Carvahlo is among a number of politicians in Brussels who perceive CCU as an important future industry, putting it on the political map and creating momentum for CCU. This includes the integration of CCU into the new Carbon Removal Regime and the Emission Trading System (ETS).

As the new policy documents are fully in line with the strategy of the RCI, the more than 30 member companies of the initiative are highly supportive of this new development and are ready to support policy-maker with data and detailed suggestions for active support and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles and a sound carbon management. The recent political papers of relevance are highlighted in the following.

Brussels: Communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles”
On 15 December, the European Commission has published the communication paper “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” . For the first time, the importance of carbon in different industrial sectors is clearly stated. One of the key statements in the paper is the full recognition of CCU for the first time as a solution for the circular economy, which includes CCU-based fuels as well. The communication paper distinguishes between bio-based CO2, fossil CO2 and CO2 from direct air capture when addressing carbon removal and it also announces detailed monitoring of the different CO2 streams. Not only CCU, but also carbon from the bioeconomy is registered as an important pillar for the future. Here, the term carbon farming has been newly introduced, which refers to improved land management practices that result in an increase of carbon sequestration in living biomass, dead organic matter or soils by enhancing carbon capture or reducing the release of carbon. Even though the list of nature-based carbon storage technologies is non-exhaustive in our view, we strongly support the paper’s idea to deem sustainable land and forest management as a basis for the bioeconomy more important than solely considering land use as a carbon sink. Surprisingly, chemical recycling, which is also an alternative carbon source that substitutes additional fossil carbon from the ground (i.e. carbon from crude oil, natural gas or from coal), is completely absent from the communication paper.

Berlin: Coalition paper of the new German Government: “Dare more progress – alliance for freedom, justice and sustainability”
The whole of Europe is waiting to see how the new German government of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals will shape the German climate policy. The new reform agenda focuses in particular on solar and wind energy as well as especially hydrogen. Solar energy is to be expanded to 200 GW by 2030 and two percent of the country's land is to be designated for onshore wind energy. A hydrogen grid infrastructure is to be created for green hydrogen, which will form the backbone of the energy system of the future – and is also needed for e-fuels and sustainable chemical industry, a clear commitment to CCU. There is a further focus on the topic of circular economy and recycling. A higher recycling quota and a product-specific minimum quota for the use of recyclates and secondary raw materials should be established at European level. In the coalition paper, there is also a clear commitment to chemical recycling to be found. A significant change for the industry is planned to occur in regards to the so-called “plastic tax” of 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging. This tax has been implemented by the EU, but most countries are not passing on this tax to the manufacturers and distributors, or only to a limited extent. The new German government now plans to fully transfer this tax over to the industry.

Düsseldorf: Carbon can protect the climate – Carbon Management Strategy North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Lastly, the RCI highly welcomes North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW, Germany) as the first region worldwide to adopt a comprehensive carbon management strategy, a foundation for the transformation from using additional fossil carbon from the ground to the utilisation of renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling. For all three alternative carbon streams, separate detailed strategies are being developed to achieve the defossilisation of the industry. This is all the more remarkable as North Rhine-Westphalia is the federal state with the strongest industry in Germany, in particular the chemical industry. And it is here, of all places, that a first master plan for the conversion of industry from fossil carbon to biomass, CO2 and recycling is implemented. If successful, NRW could become a global leader in sustainable carbon
management and the region could become a blueprint for many industrial regions.

Freudenberg Performance Materials announces a general upward adjustment of their prices for nonwoven performance materials for flooring and filtration applications in EMEA. This revision, effective January 1, 2022, has become necessary because of sustained and unprecedented surge in cost for raw materials, packaging, freight, consumables and energy combined with disruptions in their inbound supply chain.

Prices across all categories have by far outpaced their expectations and are forecasted to remain on high levels throughout 2022. This historic price trend has placed significant pressure on Freudenberg Performance Materials, and they understand in a similar way on their customers.

At this stage their business can no longer absorb the effects of such high price levels. Freudenberg Performance Materials will therefore adjust our prices for all their Colback® and Lutradur branded nonwoven products for flooring and filtration application by double-digit increases depending on product types.

Freudenberg Performance Materials will continue to work on improving productivity to offset inflationary pressure to keep attractive price levels and to avoid further price adjustments. They will continue to monitor the market development and in case of sustained and unexpected downward trends they will adjust our prices accordingly.