Consumers continue to pay for the extra stretch, support and shape retention that spandex provides. Producers added lines and built new plants, apparently unaware that other fiber manufacturers worldwide were ramping up spandex output as well. A lot of people were surprised. We're now in that period of realizing that surprise. Three big Western producers, DuPont, Bayer and Globe, all boosted spandex capacity within the last three years.
Hosiery is major market.
The gap between capacity and demand should narrow some by 2005, if demand continues to rise and capacity growth slows, Mr. Dobson believes, though he doesn't expect it to be erased. The big Korean producers, which make generic spandex in contrast to higher-priced branded or premium specialty yarns, will continue to grow, he said. With South Korea's inability to consume the country's current 70,000 tons of spandex capacity, much of what Korea makes is exported, Mr. Dobson said. Korean producers may have come up with a winning combination of good quality and low price. He cautioned, however, that there can be a difference between how a product performs in sampling and in commercial production.