Viscose Staple Fibre Production Cost 2026

What does it cost to make a tonne of viscose staple fibre?

Douglas Insights prices 32 inputs for a tonne of viscose staple fibre in 4 countries from 16 documents: 4 raw materials, 0 packaging materials, the utility tariffs and the production wage, each with its publisher and year. The report multiplies them by the consumption per tonne, balanced across 5 process steps, and gives the direct cash cost of a tonne in every country.

Direct cash cost means raw materials, packaging, energy and water, and the crew on the line: what a viscose staple fibre producer pays for each tonne before capital, maintenance, overhead and financing. Those belong to the plant project report; this page and this report stop at the tonne. The reference plant is 100,000 t/y at steady state; base period calendar year 2022–2025.

Saudi Arabia (traded price not yet sourced) and South Africa (an input price is still being sourced): not yet published. A country is dropped rather than priced with a proxy.

Which process route is viscose staple fibre costed on?

A viscose staple fibre line runs 5 process steps, from alkali cellulose: dissolving wood pulp reacted with concentrated sodium hydroxide to soda cellulose to fibre after-treatment: drawing, lubrication, crimping and cutting into staple; each is a unit operation from a published process norm, and the report carries the yield and loss of every step so the inputs per tonne of finished product close.

1. Alkali cellulose: dissolving wood pulp reacted with concentrated sodium hydroxide to soda cellulose. Source: US EPA.
2. Xanthation: soda cellulose reacted with carbon disulfide to sodium cellulose xanthate. Source: US EPA.
3. Viscose preparation: xanthate dissolved in dilute sodium hydroxide and ripened (aged). Source: US EPA.
4. Wet spinning and regeneration in the acid bath (viscose staple fibre line, whole-line utilities). Source: Kelheim Fibres GmbH.
5. Fibre after-treatment: drawing, lubrication, crimping and cutting into staple. Source: US EPA.

What do the raw materials for viscose staple fibre cost in each country?

4 raw materials for viscose staple fibre are priced in each of the 4 countries: chemical wood pulp, dissolving grades, sodium hydroxide, solid, carbon disulphide and sulphuric acid. Prices are customs unit values and producer prices for the year shown, in US dollars per tonne. Sodium hydroxide, solid shows the widest spread, from USD 501 a tonne in China to USD 998 in Germany.

Sources: UN Comtrade. Consumption per tonne, the cost each material adds and the material balance are in the report.

What do the co-products of viscose staple fibre sell for?

The route of viscose staple fibre also yields disodium sulphate (hs 283311), co-product. The report credits each co-product at its own traded price in the same country, so the cost of a tonne of viscose staple fibre carries only its share of the feedstock; the yield of each co-product per tonne is in the report.

What do energy and water cost a viscose staple fibre line in each country?

2 utilities are priced on the viscose staple fibre route: electricity, industrial and natural gas, industrial. Tariffs are industrial, all-in and exclude value-added tax (VAT), each shown with its year. Electricity runs from USD 0.086 a kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the United States to USD 0.218 in Germany, the widest gap of any utility input.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Agency, Eurostat, State Grid Henan Electric Power Company via Pingdingshan …, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Empresa de Pesquisa Energetica (EPE), Brazil and ES Gas Distribuidora de Gas Natural, per ARSP (Espirito S…. Consumption per tonne of product is in the report.

What does labour cost on a viscose staple fibre line in each country?

The production operator wage runs from USD 5,339 a year in Brazil to USD 44,170 in the United States, base wages from the statistics office of each country before employer on-costs; the crew per shift is sized from the process norms (US EPA, Kelheim Fibres GmbH) and stated in the report. Wages enter the cost of a tonne of viscose staple fibre through that crew on every shift.

Where are the inputs for viscose staple fibre cheapest?

Inputs for viscose staple fibre are cheapest in different countries: chemical wood pulp, dissolving grades (hs 470200) is cheapest in Brazil at USD 752 a tonne; electricity is cheapest in the United States at USD 0.086 a kWh; the lowest operator wage is in Brazil. No single input decides the cost of a tonne of viscose staple fibre: the report weighs every input by its consumption and ranks the countries on the direct cash cost.

• Sodium hydroxide, solid (hs 281511) is cheapest in China at USD 501 a tonne.
• Carbon disulphide (hs 281310) is cheapest in the United States at USD 597 a tonne.
• Sulphuric acid (hs 280700) is cheapest in China at USD 36 a tonne.

What is the traded price of viscose staple fibre in each country?

Douglas Insights records the traded price of viscose staple fibre between USD 1,745 a tonne in China and USD 2,757 a tonne in South Africa across 5 lead countries. That customs unit value is the ex-works proxy against which the report measures the direct cost of a tonne in each country.

Prices are customs unit values from UN Comtrade and producer prices where a production survey publishes them, such as Eurostat Production Communautaire (PRODCOM); one rule per country, stated in the report and not changed to move a result. Monthly price series are in the Douglas Insights price pages.

What moves the cost of a tonne of viscose staple fibre?

Raw materials net of the co-product credit weigh more than three fifths of the direct cost of a tonne of viscose staple fibre in United States, so the price of the main feedstock moves the cost more than any tariff or wage; the report moves the main feedstock, energy and the exchange rate by ten percent each and shows the cost of a tonne in every country under each.

• Raw materials net of the co-product credit: more than three fifths of the direct cost in United States.
• Packaging: under a twentieth of the direct cost in United States.
• Utilities: a tenth to a fifth of the direct cost in United States.
• Direct labour: under a twentieth of the direct cost in United States.

What limits a production cost figure for viscose staple fibre?

Three things limit a production cost figure for viscose staple fibre: the traded price is a customs unit value, not a contract price; input years differ (calendar year 2022–2025) and a price moves with its market; and consumption per tonne comes from published norms rather than one plant's meters. The report states each limit beside the figure it affects.

• In Germany the direct cost sits above the traded price in the base period, a finding the report states rather than tunes away.
• In China the direct cost sits above the traded price in the base period, a finding the report states rather than tunes away.
• In Brazil the direct cost sits above the traded price in the base period, a finding the report states rather than tunes away.

Douglas Exclusive: the viscose staple fibre feedstock ledger

Douglas Insights counts 16 documents behind the 32 inputs on this page. The feedstock ledger in the report lists every input with its publisher, document, code and year, so a buyer can put the same figure in front of a supplier.

Methodology: how is the viscose staple fibre production cost built?

Four stages build the viscose staple fibre production cost report: the process route and material balance from published norms (5 steps); input prices from customs and production statistics, tariff schedules and statistics offices (32 inputs, 16 documents, 4 countries); the direct cash cost of a tonne as consumption times price, with labour over steady-state output; and the check of each country against its traded price, where a cost far above the price holds the country until the input is re-checked.

Nothing is typed: every figure traces to a document, and the Douglas Insights research methodology explains how the Research Desk reviews each edition. Capital cost, financing and returns for the same line are in the manufacturing plant project report.

Market reports, plant reports and price pages for the same chain sit in the Douglas Insights industry hub; the production cost hub collects every production cost report.