Beginning of the new year the 13th international meeting of the Steering Committee of the Discover National Fiber Initiative (DNFI) took place during the fair ‘Heimtextil’ in the office of Industrieverband Veredlung, Garne, Gewebe und Technische Textilien (IVGT) in Frankfurt attended by 15 members together with special guests from several countries.
Terry Townsend, Cotton Analytics, and former DNFI Chair of the stakeholder Initiative reported that world production of natural fibres reached approximately 33 million tons in 2019, an increase of about one million tons from the 2018 preliminary.
Also there had been given an overview about statistic figures and developments for cotton, wool, coir, jute, flax, hemp, sisal and other fibres of vegetable and animal origin by participants. With a share of 79 % cotton held the biggest share followed by jute with around 10 % and wool with a bit more then 3 %.
Dr. Das, speaking for both himself and Dr. Ghosh the winners of the DNFI Award 2020, thanked members of DNFI for the recognition given to their research and the resulting natural fibre products.
It was decided that the DNFI Innovation in Natural Fibres Award will be conducted again in 2020. The award 2020 was already announced on 12 February with a closing date of mid-September.
DNFI expressed appreciation to Dr. Christian Schindler, General Director of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), for sponsoring the award trophies and participating in the presentation of the award during Heimtextil.
The next annual meeting of DNFI will be conducted on Wednesday, 13 January 2021 during Heimtextil. Members agreed that additional meetings are unnecessary, and that the work of DNFI can be conducted efficiently via e-mail.
There was a consensus that DNFI serves as a channel to raise awareness and communicate the positive attributes of natural fibres, and DNFI serves as a platform for the collection of statistics and exchange of information about natural fibres.
As recently reported Elke Hortmeyer, Director of International Relations and Communication, Bremen Cotton Exchange, offered to serve as Chair of DNFI during 2020 and 2021. She has participated in DNFI activities since its founding in 2010. Dalena White was elected to a two-year term as Vice Chair in 2019, and she confirmed her availability to serve the second year of her term.
The 14th Meeting of the Steering Committee of DNFI will be held on Wednesday 13 January 2021 in Frankfurt during Heimtextil.