Analysis of Global Non-woven Fabric Market in 2023
With the economic growth, people’s demand for non-woven fabrics is increasing, and the production of non-woven fabrics in our country has also developed rapidly. Especially in recent years, the non-woven fabric equipment and production capacity mainly including spunbond, spunlace and hot air technology have increased rapidly.
According to the forecast, the annual output of non-woven fabrics will still maintain a growth rate of 6%-10% in the next 5 years, and the annual output of non-woven fabrics will exceed 6.8 million tons by 2023. However, many non-woven fabric manufacturing entrepreneurs lament that the market demand has not kept pace with the increase in production capacity, which has led to price competition and equipment shutdown. With the upgrading of equipment and the improvement of research and development capacity, non-woven fabric enterprises should also look at the world, explore a broader market and further develop the non-woven fabric industry while producing more high-quality, high-specification and high-grade products.
Next, I will provide some data analysis on some major non-woven fabric markets, hoping to contribute to the decision-making of enterprise development.
According to the analysis of the latest market research report of Simitherspira, the global spunbond nonwoven market is estimated to be worth 12.7 billion USD in 2018 and is expected to reach 18.3 billion USD in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.6% from 2018 to 2023. Compared with other non-woven fabrics, spunbonded non-woven fabrics are more and more popular, and their usage in the medical field is also increasing. The high demand for polypropylene spunbonded non-woven fabrics is the key factor to promote the growth of the market. The high cost of the final product may affect the pricing structure of the intermediate industry, and the stagnant growth of baby diapers in mature markets has also become a key constraint factor for the growth of spunbonded nonwoven fabrics in western markets.
In 2018, disposable products accounted for a larger share of the spunbonded nonwoven market. Polypropylene is still the largest material proportion in the spunbonded nonwoven market. Compared with other raw materials, one of the main advantages of polypropylene is its economy and yield, which makes it the preferred material, especially for disposable products, such as adult incontinence products, baby diapers and sanitary napkins. The acquisition of this large portion of market share is mainly attributed to the cost-effectiveness of materials and the key functional characteristics that make them the preferred materials. At the same time, many enterprises are carrying out extensive research and development to improve the biodegradability of disposable spunbond nonwoven products. For example, polylactic acid spunbond nonwoven has attracted much attention due to its known biodegradability and biocompatibility.
The Asia-Pacific region is expected to lead the growth of the global spunbond nonwoven market, which is mainly driven by the increase in disposable income and the increase in disposable product consumption. The forecast shows that the Asia-Pacific region’s spunbond nonwoven market will grow at a very high compound annual growth rate from 2018 to 2023, which is mainly due to the high demand for spunbond nonwoven from China, Japan, India and South Korea.
In 2019, the global demand for spunlaced nonwovens is expected to reach 1.38 million tons, or 31.1 billion square meters, worth 6.2 billion US dollars. Spunlaced non-woven fabrics face the new application demand of wiping products and technological innovation. In recent years, there has been a high growth and high profit margin. This trend will continue until 2024, but it will also face new challenges including overcapacity.
According to in-depth research from Smithers Pira, in 2024, sustained demand will drive the compound annual growth rate of global consumption of spunlaced nonwoven fabrics to 7.9% and 2.01 million tons. Future profitability will also depend on the ongoing development of existing spunlace technology and the implementation of new production technologies to meet the requirements of end users and the market.
The global consumption of wet-laid non-woven fabrics produced by wet-laid or DRC processes is 460,900 tons in 2018, equivalent to 11.3 billion square meters and 1.3 billion US dollars. By 2023, the annual growth rate of tonnage will reach 5.0%, the annual growth rate of consumption per square meter will be 5.4%, and the annual growth rate of consumption amount will be 5.6%. With the increase of value per ton and per square meter-the growth of more “high value” special products, such as battery separators and wall covering.
Generally speaking, the market demand for non-woven fabrics is still increasing, but the requirements for product performance and innovative applications are also continuously improving. While increasing equipment investment and production capacity, enterprises should also be closer to the market demand and growth point and lay out the global market so as to avoid falling into the dilemma of overcapacity.
