Viscose Staple Fiber Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2030)

Global Viscose Staple Fiber Market Trends and Insights

Growing Demand for Apparel and Clothing

Global apparel consumption is still climbing, and viscose continues to win share from both cotton and synthetics. Retailers favor the fiber’s moisture management, drape, and dye uptake that help deliver premium aesthetics at mid-tier price points. Fast-fashion chains leverage viscose to replicate natural-fiber looks inside compressed design-to-shelf cycles. Limited U.S. spinning capacity redirected incremental volumes toward Asian mills, underscoring regional supply imbalances. Consumers newly focused on comfort and affordability increasingly choose viscose-rich blends, sustaining baseline demand even as discretionary spending ebbs.

Cotton-Price Volatility Favouring Viscose

Cotton prices swung sharply during 2024. Such volatility complicates seasonal cost planning and pushes mills toward the relative stability of wood-based viscose staple fibre market contracts. Concurrent dissolving-pulp price relief has widened viscose’s cost advantage, encouraging mills to lock in longer-term supply. Weather risks, land-use competition, and policy shifts continue to inject uncertainty into cotton supply, strengthening viscose’s hedge role in fiber portfolios.

Expansion of Fast-Fashion Manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific

Asia-Pacific’s fast-fashion network now couples design hubs, fabric mills, and garment factories within tightly integrated clusters that can ship new styles in weeks. Investments like Syre’s upcoming textile-to-textile recycling plant in Vietnam illustrate capital inflows that deepen the region’s vertical breadth^{[1]Syre, “Syre Raises USD 100 Million Series A,” syre.com}. China’s Xinjiang smart-spinning complex, backed by CNY 2 billion, enhances local throughput and automation efficiency. These capabilities cement APAC’s primacy in the viscose staple fibre market by shortening lead times and concentrating capacity close to feedstock sources.

Surge in Hygiene and Wipes Non-Wovens Blending

Rising consumer demand for plastic-free personal-care products accelerates viscose substitution in wipes, diapers, and feminine-care pads. Lenzing’s LENZING Lyocell Dry fiber achieves a water contact angle above 100° after one hour, enabling hydrophobic acquisition layers that rival polypropylene^{[2]Lenzing, “Lenzing Expands LENZING™ Lyocell Dry Fiber Portfolio,” lenzing.com}. EU Single-Use Plastics rules and North American retailer packaging targets boost acceptance of biodegradable cellulosic fibers. Medical textile makers also prize viscose for its inherent softness and microbial resistance, supporting growth in specialized wound dressings and surgical drapes.

Intensifying Competition from Synthetics

Polyester and spandex producers discount aggressively to defend mass-market shares, and recycled PET yarns now carry sustainability labels that challenge viscose’s natural image. The spandex segment is growing, reflecting synthetics’ ability to tap niche performance niches. Established hydrocarbon feedstock chains lend price stability that resonates with value retailers, although environmental scrutiny of microplastics tempers the advantage.

Stricter CS₂ Emission Regulations

EU Best Available Techniques for sulfur emissions oblige viscose mills to install closed-loop systems or risk market exclusion. Birla Cellulose’s compliance blueprint demonstrates the capex burden required to align with the upcoming norms. Smaller standalone mills face disproportionate costs that could trigger capacity rationalization, especially in regions adopting EU-linked environmental trade standards.

Segment Analysis

By Application: Woven Textiles Anchor Volumes While Specialty Segments Accelerate

The woven textiles segment accounted for 72.15% of the viscose staple fiber market volume in 2024, reflecting entrenched apparel and home-textile processing capacity across the Asia-Pacific. Strong drape, breathability, and vibrant dye profiles keep viscose woven fabrics central to shirts, dresses, and bed linens. Although overall apparel demand normalizes, cost-conscious brands still specify viscose blends to manage ticket prices and maintain premium aesthetics. 

Although smaller today, specialty non-woven uses post a 6.45% CAGR as hygiene and medical grades gain traction. Hydrophobic viscose innovations allow diaper acquisition layers and fem-care topsheets once dominated by polypropylene. Medical device firms adopt viscose for absorbent wound pads and single-use surgical covers where biodegradability and skin compatibility outweigh slightly higher costs. Over the forecast horizon, non-wovens’ faster growth gradually chips away at woven’s share but does not displace its volumetric leadership.

By End-User Industry: Healthcare Growth Outpaces Traditional Apparel Dominance

Textile and apparel retained 63.74% of the viscose staple fiber market share in 2024, buoyed by fast-fashion reorder cycles and value-tier brand expansions. Integrated Asian clusters supply mass-market retailers in compressed lead times, reinforcing viscose as a fixture of global apparel sourcing matrices. 

Conversely, medical and healthcare demand expands at 7.03% CAGR as hospitals and wound-care brands seek fibers meeting stringent purity and biocompatibility benchmarks. Aging populations in the U.S., EU, and Japan, alongside rising care standards in emerging regions, raise volumes of disposable medical drapes, gauzes, and hygiene wipes that rely on high-purity viscose. Producers targeting this niche secure higher margins through specialty grade certifications, partially insulating revenue from apparel’s cyclical swings.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

Geography Analysis

Asia-Pacific commanded 52.56% of global volume in 2024, anchored by China’s integrated pulp-to-fiber complexes and deep downstream weaving and garment industries. Domestic viscose output tops the global capacity, providing local converters with predictable access to fiber and enabling aggressive export pricing. Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia and Vietnam add incremental scale, with Vietnam’s planned recycling facilities signaling a shift toward circular supply within the bloc. Robust logistics corridors and government support for textile hubs sustain APAC’s primacy through 2030. 

While representing a smaller base, South America delivers the fastest regional CAGR at 6.34% through 2030. Brazil’s expanding knitwear mills and improved intra-regional trade pacts underpin capacity additions. Rising disposable income prompts domestic substitution of cotton with viscose in value apparel segments. Although still dependent on imported pulp and fiber, local stakeholders explore joint ventures to reduce freight costs and hedge currency volatility. 

North America and Europe display mature, steady demand profiles, yet their regulatory environment wields outsized influence on global production standards. EU carbon and emission rules compel mills worldwide to invest in scrubbers, solvent recovery, and certified sustainable forestry. North American brand sustainability scorecards increasingly mandate traceability for pulp origin and closed-loop processing. These expectations elevate the competitive standing of technologically advanced mills even if absolute consumption grows modestly.