ANFA’s overview of Asia
The latest data from the Asian Nonwoven Fabrics Association – ANFA – shows that the region’s nonwovens production has climbed from around 2.3 million tonnes in 2007 to 4.3 million tonnes in 2015.
China’s production alone grew from just over 1.3 million tonnes in 2008 to more than 2.9 million tonnes last year.
The ANFA figures were presented by Paul Cheng from the organisation at the Global Nonwovens Summit held on May 5th in Boston.
Also speaking at the Summit was David Katsnelson of RISI, who observed that, until very recently, the emerging markets - led by China - were driving global growth.
“China is undergoing a much-needed transition and many other countries have been affected by it,” he said.
This may be so, but ANFA’s figures show that China was responsible for 72.4% of all of the region’s nonwovens production in 2015, followed by Japan, with 8.8%, India with 7.7%, Korea with 5.3%, Taiwan with 4.5% and Indonesia with 1.7%.
Indonesia was not shown separately in ANFA’s production figures until 2015, when it was calculated to have produced 69,000 tonnes of nonwovens.
In terms of a market split by technology, spunmelt nonwovens accounted for 44.7% of the region’s production in 2015, followed by needlepunched materials representing 24.2% and spunlaced at 16.3%.
Japan’s has traditionally focused on high added-value materials, but the ANFA figures show that their value has dropped in recent years, from an average of Yen 676 ($6.34) per kg in 2008 to Yen 645 ($6.05) per kg in 2015. Back in 2008, the country manufactured 338,400 tonnes of nonwovens with a value of Yen 228.8 billion ($2.15 bn). In 2015, whilst output was higher, at 342,000 tonnes, the value was Yen 220.6 billion ($2.07bn).
However, Japan has moved a lot of its new manufacturing capacity overseas, and in 2014 – the last figure which ANFA has available – a further 196,300 tonnes of nonwovens were manufactured by operations in which Japanese companies have a stake of at least 49%. This output had a value of Yen 103.2 billion ($967m).
The higher value of nonwovens produced domestically in Japan, is more apparent in import and export figures. Japan imported 189,800 tonnes in 2015, with an average value of Yen 432 ($4.05) per kg. By contrast, the 51,300 tonnes of nonwovens it exported had an average value of Yen 1,423 ($13.34) per kg. As a consequence, Japan has a very balanced import-export ratio in terms of value, if not tonnage. China is the leading destination for Japan’s exports and the biggest source of its imports too.
The import-export picture for China is very different, with 2015 exports amounting to 730,900 tonnes and a value of US$2.4 billion. The average price per kg however, was $3.4. At the same time, China imported some 138,000 tonnes at an average price per kg of $6.23, with a total value of $859.4 million.
Taiwan is currently the leader in supplying high-value nonwovens into China, having overtaken the USA in 2015. China’s other key suppliers are the USA, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
Japan is the biggest buyer of Chinese nonwovens, followed by the USA, South Korea, Vietnam and India.
Reflecting the importance of the region’s nonwovens production, INDEX™17 – the largest nonwovens show in the world which is taking place at Palexpo in Switzerland from April 4th-7th next year will play host to many of the leading companies in the area.
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