China Accounted for About Two-Thirds of Total Asian Nonwoven Fabric Production in 2011, According to Textiles Intelligence

16 Nov 2012 • by Natalie Aster

Among the major nonwoven fabric producing countries in Asia, China accounted for about two-thirds, or 2.1 million tons, of total Asian production in 2011 making it the largest producing country by far.

Asia will account for over half of global nonwoven fabric production by 2020, according to a report in the latest issue of Technical Textile Markets from the business information company Textiles Intelligence.

Between 2001 and 2011 production more or less trebled. As a result, Asia accounted for over 40% of global nonwoven fabric production in 2011.

These strong growth rates reflect rising usage of nonwovens in Asia as countries in the region continue to industrialise. Furthermore, developments and innovations in the field of nonwovens are leading to the opening up of new applications for nonwovens and, in turn, resulting in an increase in nonwovens usage.

Furthermore, its share was up sharply compared with 2001, reflecting much faster growth in Chinese production between 2001 and 2011 than elsewhere in Asia. Indeed, output in China increased almost five-fold over this ten-year period, from just 417,000 tons at the start.

The most important category of nonwoven fabrics produced in Asia in terms of production process in 2011 was, by far, that of spunbonded and meltblown nonwoven fabrics with a 44.2% share.

However, the fastest growing category of nonwoven fabrics was that of spunlaced nonwoven fabrics with an average increase of 20.0% per annum between 2008 and 2011 and a rise of 21.8% in 2011 alone.

Many analysts have predicted unlimited growth in the use of nonwoven materials in Asia in the coming years in several end use markets, including medical and healthcare, hygiene, filtration, agriculture and geotextiles, among others.

Furthermore, China and India - which together account for over a third of the world's population - are set to become the largest potential markets for such products.

Although economic growth in Asia has been revised downwards recently, it is still expected to be much faster than in Western economies.

Moreover, sales of nonwoven products in Asia are expected to grow at an even faster pace as strong economic growth and rising incomes per head in the region have resulted in a rapid increase in the use of nonwovens products.

However, if Asia's nonwoven fabric producers are to fulfil their potential, they will have to invest in the most advanced technology and production equipment available, as well as using higher quality man-made fibres and functional fibres.

"Statistics: Nonwoven Fabric Production in Asia, 2012 edition" was published by the global business information company Textiles Intelligence in issue No 90 of Technical Textile Markets.

Other reports published in the same issue include:

• Technical Textile Markets: Product Developments and Innovations, 3rd quarter 2012 edition 
• The World Nonwovens Industry: Profiles of Ten Leading Producers, 1 of 3, 2012/13 
• Global Technical Textiles Business Update, 3rd quarter 2012 edition 
• Automotive Fabrics: Expanding Opportunities in the Vehicles of Tomorrow

More new market research reports by can be found at Textiles Intelligence page.

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