More Taiwanese textile manufacturers are joining the trend to develop recycled products as the EU pushes the implementation of its “Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles” in 2024, and the global textile sector targets a 45 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030.
Several local firms, which displayed environmentally friendly products at the Taipei Innovative Textile Application Show earlier this month, have followed in the footsteps of other global brands to incorporate environmental, social and corporate governance principles into their business operations in response to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The companies include Far Eastern New Century Corp (FENC, 遠東新世紀), Shinkong Synthetic Fibers Corp (新光合成纖維), Lealea Enterprise Co (力麗), Zig Sheng Industrial Co (集盛實業) and Formosa Taffeta Co (福懋興業), according to the trade show’s organizer, the Taiwan Textile Federation.
Photo: Huang Hao-chen, Taipei Times
Yuanta Securities Investment and Consulting Co (元大投顧) said in a note on Thursday that recycled polyethylene terephthalate (R-PET) demand has been increasing, with prices rising three times higher than those of virgin materials, as global brands such as Nike Inc and Adidas AG have pledged to use sustainable and recycled materials for their products.
R-PET is made mainly from plastic bottles, which are then made into a resin to be used in the production of textiles. The world’s three largest R-PET suppliers are Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Holdings LP, Taiwan’s Far Eastern New Century and Mexico-listed Alpek SAB de CV, Yuanta said.
To meet strong demand, Indorama plans to expand its R-PET capacity by 94 percent to 750,000 tonnes by 2025, from 387,000 tonnes, while Far Eastern is looking to increase its capacity by 169 percent to 870,000 tonnes from 324,000 tonnes over the same period, while also launching a plastic bottle recycling project with convenience stores in Japan and Taiwan, Yuanta said.
“FENC has focused on research and development for eco-friendly materials for years. It supplies multiple PET, textile and apparel products for international brands,” Yuanta analysts led by Lisa Chen (陳玫芬) said in the note.
The Taipei-based company has been supplying R-PET for Nike’s sports jerseys for national teams for more than 10 years.
FENC also used plastic bottles retrieved from the sea to produce sports shoes for Adidas in 2015, and is to extend the collaboration to sportswear this year.
The two companies are working to provide tear-resistant sports jerseys for nine national teams at this year’s FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar, as the shirts are moisture-wicking and suitable for sports involving collision, Yuanta said.
Supplying Lululemon Athletica Inc and Inditex SA’s Zara brand, FENC used recycled polyester chips in their products this year, which would also be adopted for their products to be launched next year, it said.
Shinkong Synthetic, Lealea and Zig Sheng purchase PET bottle flakes to make R-PET, which is used to manufacture recycled polyester fiber.
Formosa Taffeta purchases recycled polyester fiber to make fabric, with R-PET accounting for 50 percent of its total PET shipments, while used fishing nets and oyster ropes make up 20 percent of its total nylon shipments, Yuanta said.
“Taiwanese suppliers should continue to benefit from the eco-friendly approach of apparel brands like Nike, Adidas and Lululemon,” Yuanta analysts said.
AI SERVER DEMAND: ‘Overall industry demand continues to outpace supply and we are expanding capacity to meet it,’ the company’s chief executive officer said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported that net profit last quarter rose 27 percent from the same quarter last year on the back of demand for cloud services and high-performance computing products. Net profit surged to NT$44.36 billion (US$1.48 billion) from NT$35.04 billion a year earlier. On a quarterly basis, net profit grew 5 percent from NT$42.1 billion. Earnings per share expanded to NT$3.19 from NT$2.53 a year earlier and NT$3.03 in the first quarter. However, a sharp appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar since early May has weighed on the company’s performance, Hon Hai chief financial officer David Huang (黃德才)
The Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robot Show, which is to be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, would showcase the latest in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven robotics and automation technologies, the organizer said yesterday. The event would highlight applications in smart manufacturing, as well as information and communications technology, the Taiwan Automation Intelligence and Robotics Association said. More than 1,000 companies are to display innovations in semiconductors, electromechanics, industrial automation and intelligent manufacturing, it said in a news release. Visitors can explore automated guided vehicles, 3D machine vision systems and AI-powered applications at the show, along
FORECAST: The greater computing power needed for emerging AI applications has driven higher demand for advanced semiconductors worldwide, TSMC said The government-supported Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has raised its forecast for this year’s growth in the output value of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry to above 22 percent on strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In its latest IEK Current Quarterly Model report, the institute said the local semiconductor industry would have output of NT$6.5 trillion (US$216.6 billion) this year, up 22.2 percent from a year earlier, an upward revision from a 19.1 percent increase estimate made in May. The strong showing of the local semiconductor industry largely reflected the stronger-than-expected performance of the integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing segment,
NVIDIA FACTOR: Shipments of AI servers powered by GB300 chips would undergo pilot runs this quarter, with small shipments possibly starting next quarter, it said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which supplies artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday said that AI servers are on track to account for 70 percent of its total server revenue this year, thanks to improved yield rates and a better learning curve for Nvidia’s GB300 chip-based servers. AI servers accounted for more than 60 percent of its total server revenue in the first half of this year, Quanta chief financial officer Elton Yang (楊俊烈) told an online conference. The company’s latest production learning curve of the AI servers powered by Nvidia’s GB200 chips has improved after overcoming key component
RSS