Thailand Nonwovens Market Research Report: Prospect and Future to be Expected
Overview of Thailand Nonwoven Industry
The Thai government formally put forward the “Thailand 4.0” high value-added economic model in 2016, trying to develop high value-added industries through innovation and technological means, promote the transformation and upgrading of Thai industries and the development of a new economic model, and enhance the country’s competitiveness. Thailand will make every effort to push forward the “Thailand 4.0” strategy in the next 20 years so that the country can get out of the “middle income trap” and enter the ranks of developed countries.
One of the major carriers to achieve this strategic goal is the “Eastern Economic Corridor” project, which aims to build into a high-tech industrial cluster area by vigorously building infrastructure and implementing a series of preferential investment policies to encourage the development of high-value-added industries, such as new automobiles, biotechnology, intelligent electronics, medical care, robots, and digital industries in the three governments along Thailand’s eastern coast. As an important supporting raw material for high value-added industries encouraged by Thailand, the non-woven fabric industry will also face better development opportunities.
The non-woven fabric mechanical spun bond manufacturing production line is built into a high-tech industrial cluster area. As an important supporting raw material for high value-added industries encouraged by Thailand, the non-woven fabric industry will also face better development opportunities.
Non-woven fabric machinery
Products are relatively complete industrial chain system. The textile industry has a skilled workforce of more than 500,000 and works in more than 4,000 textile enterprises of various types, of which twelve (12) are raw material producers (including Thai characteristic banana fiber and coconut fiber), 156 are yarn producers and 69,298 are employed in raw material and yarn enterprises. There are 1646 enterprises (including non-woven fabrics) engaged in product processing and finishing, with 153,217 employees. There are 2143 OEM, ODM and OBM processing enterprises with 329,085 employees. The textile industry had a total import of 7,133.7 million US dollars, an export of 5,368.6 million US dollars and a trade deficit of 1,761.5 million US dollars.
Thailand’s non-woven fabric industry started in 2000. In the following ten (10) years, a group of Japanese enterprises set up non-woven fabric and end products manufacturing and processing enterprises in Thailand, occupying the Thai market and radiating to the low-end and middle-end markets of other Southeast Asian countries. Asahi Kasei of Japan invested the first 20,000-ton spun bond nonwoven production line in Thailand in 2012. The company’s current production capacity in Thailand has exceeded 60,000 tons. Its Eltas spun bond nonwoven material (the only spun bond nonwoven in the world that uses nylon, polyester and polypropylene fibers as raw materials, spreads the fibers evenly, and then uses hot rolling to make non-adhesive spun bond nonwoven) is continuously expanding the application market in Southeast Asian countries.
Mitsui Chemicals Thailand branch MHM has two spun bond nonwoven production lines. In 2018, the company plans to transform one of the production lines into hollow fiber spun bond nonwoven to meet the growing demand for high-performance diaper raw materials in Southeast Asian markets. In addition, Japan’s JNC Company has invested in the production of hot air nonwovens in Thailand through its subsidiary JNC Fibers. Japan’s Tapyrus Company began to invest in the production of melt blown nonwovens in Thailand in 2012. At present, more than half of Thailand’s nonwoven web production is occupied by Japanese enterprises.
As for Thailand’s disposable sanitary products, the US$ 200 million Thai baby diaper market is mostly occupied by Japan’s Unicharm. Its baby diaper brand Mamy Poko and female sanitary product brand Soft respectively account for more than half of Thailand’s market share. In addition, Eunice invested US$ 530 million to acquire DSG International, a Thai health product manufacturer, to further consolidate its market power in Southeast Asia through its production and marketing channels in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. In addition, Japan’s Daio Paper Company’s subsidiary in Thailand began processing and producing baby diapers, wet tissues and other products in 2011. Last year, the company increased its investment by US$ 10.5 million, increased its processing and production of sanitary products in Thailand, and took Thailand as a new growth point for the company’s future development. At present, Thailand’s output of spun bonded nonwovens exceeds 120,000 tons, and the average annual growth rate of nonwovens and end products is above 5%.
