In 2008, world production of polyester (PES) fi bres dropped by an insignifi cant 1.5%, to 30.65 million tons, in comparison to other types of textile raw materials. This includes 18.6 million tons (-0.5%) for complex (industrial, cord, and textile, including textured) fi bres and 12.1 million tons (-3.0%) for twist and staple fi bre. The sharp drop in PES fi bre production occurred in all regions of the world except for China, where production increased by 4%. In CIS, Belarus' dominated in production of PES fi bres, but there, too, production decreased by 2%, including staple fi bre and twist by 4% at Mogilevkhimvolokno. Svetlogorsk Khimvolokno IA is operating successfully, manufacturing approximately 28,000 tons of textile fi bre in 2008 (+12.3%). Only an increase in production of staple fi bre from recycled bottles, primarily earmarked for production of nonwovens, was observed, while production decreased in the other sectors.The world economic crisis did not spare any of the leading branches of the current economy, including the fi bre materials industry and related processing sectors. We previously [1] noted the signifi cant contraction of world consumption of all types of natural and chemical fi bres in 2008. Among the latter, only consumption of polyester (PES) fi bres fell insignifi cantly (-1.5%). World production of all types of textile fi bres except for wool decreased by 4.1 million tons, or 5.5%, in 2008 (Table 1), including natural fi bres by 7% and chemical fi bres by 6%. Among the chemical fi bres, production of man-made (cellulose and acetate, including cigarette tow) fell 12.8%, synthetic fi bres dropped 4.2%, including 8.2% for polypropylene (PP), 9.7% for polyamide (PA), and 20.5% for PAN [2].Against the very negative background of the fi rst crisis year, world production of PES fi bres decreased insignifi cantly, 1.5%, to 30.65 million tons (Table 2), including 18.6 million tons (-0.5%) for complex (industrial, cord, and textile, including textured) fi bres and 12.1 million tons (-3%) for twist and staple fi bres (in the ratio of 60:40) in comparison to other kinds of textile raw material, including cotton [2]. Of the many "minuses" characterizing synthetic fi bre production in 2008 in comparison to the previous year, a positive trend persisted for PES fi bre in China alone, which increased by 4% to 20 million tons, including 12.8 million tons (+5%) for complex fi bres and 7.2 million tons (+3%) for staple fi bre. The decreases were especially important in Western Europe, South and Central America, Turkey, the USA, Taiwan, India, etc. Despite the indisputable leadership in world production of PES fi bres (65.4%) and the comparatively low utilization of production capacities (72% for staple fi bre and 71% for complex fi bres) in the country, further expansion of capacities was planned, in particular, from 27 to 28.2 million tons/year from the beginning of 2009 to the end of 2010.The journal Fiber Organon predicts expansion of world polyester production capacities from 41.5 to 42.4 million tons...