Nonwovens Production and Demand Gradually Recovers in China

Investment

In 2023, Chinese nonwoven companies were still cautious about investment in new production lines. According to CNITA’s survey, more than 45% of companies did not invest in nonwovens in 2023. CNITA incomplete statistics showed that 45 spunbonded and meltblown nonwovens production lines, 25 spunlaced lines and 135 needlepunched lines were newly installed in 2023, with a total new production capacity of more than 850,000 tons.

Since 2021, companies have become more rational in their investments, with high-end, intelligent and green becoming the main trends of new line investments in the nonwovens industry. In 2023, the investment in high-speed spunbonded and meltblown composite lines, bicomponent spunbonded lines and wood pulp based spunlaced lines continued to grow, which will further improve and optimize the structure of the Chinese nonwovens industry.

Exports and Imports

In 2023, China exported 1.31 million tons of nonwoven rolls, up 9.1% year-on-year, valued at $3.81 billion, down 3.1% year-on-year, but export values were still 22.4% higher than in 2019. The decline in export value in 2023 was mainly due to the decline in rolls export prices, which decreased 11.8% compared to 2022.

In terms of process, in 2023, the export share of spunbonded and spunmelt composite nonwovens was 35.3%. The rest of the exported nonwovens were all made of short fibers, of which weights between 25-70 gsm have the largest export value, with $1.17 billion in 2023, accounting for 30.9% of the total nonwovens exports.

Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, the U.S. and Indonesia are the main importers of China’s nonwovens. In recent years, Vietnam has become the largest importer of China’s nonwovens, with imports from China amounting to $330 million in 2023, down 16.9% year-on-year.

China’s nonwovens exported to South Korea and Japan declined by 8.9% and 11.9%, respectively, and exports to the U.S. declined by 4.3% year-on-year in 2023. Despite the decrease in demand for China’s nonwovens for the main importers, exports to Russia increased by 25.9% year-on-year and exports to Mexico and Italy also increased by 8.3% and 5.4%, respectively.

In terms of nonwoven products, the exports of masks and medical protective clothing continued to massively decline in 2023, but the exports of disposable diapers and sanitary napkins reached 3.32 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 11.7% year on year.

In 2023, China imported $820 million of nonwovens, a year-on-year decrease of 10.3%. Japan, the U.S. and Italy were the main sources of China’s imports of nonwovens.

End-use Markets

Absorbent hygiene, medical and surgical, wipes, building and construction, packaging and automotive are the major applications of nonwovens in China. Absorbent hygiene products such as diapers, sanitary napkins and adult incontinence supplies account for approximately 18% of the nonwovens use in China. With the decline of China’s birth rate and the increase in market penetration of baby diapers and sanitary napkins, the demand for such products has become increasingly saturated. Overseas markets and adult incontinence supplies are new growth areas in this field in the future.

Nonwovens in the medical and surgical sector accounted for 9% of usage. The implementation of the Healthy China Initiative and the innovation of products and applications will continue to drive the consumption of nonwovens in this field.

Packaging traditionally an important application field for nonwovens in China. With the restrictions on the use of plastic bags, the consumption of nonwoven shopping bags that can be reused multiple times has significantly increased. In addition, the application of nonwovens in clothing, shoes and luggage is expanding.

Wipes is a fast-growing application area for nonwovens in China, with an average annual growth rate of over 15% in recent years, accounting for 12.8% of usage in 2023. The biodegradability and the low energy consumption of the production process will be the key trends for wipes development, and will also be an important direction for technological innovation and market competition in the industry.

Roads, railways, and water conservancy are also traditional application areas for nonwovens, with consumption volume accounting for 9% of the total. China’s infrastructure investment continues to be large in 2023. Geosynthetics companies were in full operation and their output continued to grow. Buildings’ usage accounted for 7.2% of the total in 2023.

In 2023, the consumption of nonwovens in filtration decreased by 2.3%, accounting for 8.3% of the total. Industrial fume filtration is the fastest growing sector of China’s nonwovens filtration industry. Clean rooms, building air purification and machine air intake purification are also important application markets for the air filtration industry.

In 2023, the output and sales of automobiles in China grew by 11.6% and 12% year-on-year, respectively, continuing on a growth trend, which drove the application of nonwovens in transportation to grow by 10.5%, accounting for 7% of total nonwovens consumption. In the future, consumers will pay more attention to the comfort of cars, and the amount of nonwovens used in interior, sound and heat insulation will increase.

Outlook

In 2024, the positive factors driving the development of China’s nonwovens industry remain unchanged, and the in-depth implementation of the strategies of Expanding Domestic Demand, Ecological Conservation and Environmental Protection, and Healthy China Initiative will still bring great opportunities to the nonwovens industry. However, China’s nonwovens industry is also facing the challenges of the new-added production capacity release and the slowing demand in the medical and healthcare sector, which will intensify competition in the industry and weaken the profitability of companies.

In 2024, China’s nonwovens industry will maintain the direction of high-end, intelligent and green development, focusing on strengthening the innovation and sustainability, to ensure the high-quality development of the industry. In addition, it will boost the use of waste textiles in the production of nonwovens, and increase the use ratio of recycled fibers in nonwovens for end-use fields such as geosynthetics, building construction, transportation, packaging, and agriculture.

It is expected that the output and sales of China’s nonwovens will resume steady growth, and companies’ profitability may improve in 2024. The growth rate of fixed asset investment is expected to pick up, but the investment of expanding production capacity will still tend to be cautious.

For more information:  Yang Yaolin; Mobile: +86 18810151929; email: foreignaffairs@cnita.org.cn