Man-made cellulosic fiber and nonwoven product or fabric comprising the cellulosic fiber

The present invention relates to a modified cellulosic fiber that comprises anionic moieties in an amount of more than 0.25 mol/kg of dry fiber and has applied thereon a polymeric modifying agent in an amount of from 0.5 wt. % to 5.0 wt. %, based on dry fiber, the polymeric modifying agent comprising cationic moieties with a charge of at least 1.5 meq per gram of polymer and the molar ratio of anionic moieties to cationic moieties contained in the fiber is in the range of from 1:1 to 25:1. The fiber according to the present invention is characterized in that the anionic moieties are incorporated in the fiber and are from carboxymethylcellulose, and that the polymeric modifying agent comprising cationic moieties is selected from the group consisting of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (poly-DADMAC), poly(acrylamide-co-diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PAM-DADMAC) and mixtures thereof. The invention furthermore relates to a nonwoven product or fabric comprising the modified cellulosic fiber.