The Future of Industrial Nonwovens to 2029

Its new market report The Future of Industrial Nonwovens to 2029 [https://www.smithers.com/services/market-reports/nonwovens/the-future-of-industrial-nonwovens-to-2029] tracks global demand for five nonwovens variants across 30 industrial ends uses. Many of the most important sectors for these – automotive production, building & construction, and geotextiles – were depressed at the beginning of the decade, first by Covid-19 and then inflation, high oil prices and increased logistics costs. These problems are expected to recede over the Smithers forecast period. As this happens, driving new sales into each industry will pose different challenges for nonwovens supply and demand – including developing higher performing and lighter weight materials.

Smithers projects a general recovery with world demand reaching 7.41 million metric tons, mainly spunlaid and drylaid variants; with a value of $29.40 billion worldwide in 2024. A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of +8.2%, at constant value and pricing, will drive sales value to $43.68 billion in 2029, with volume consumption increasing to 10.56 million tons over the same period.

Asia is the largest global consumer of industrial nonwovens in sales in 2024, with a market share of 45.7%, with North America (26.3%) and Europe (19%) in second and third place. This lead position in sales will not change through 2029, with North America, Europe and South America losing more market share to Asia.

Building & Construction

The largest sector for industrial nonwoven is building & construction, accounting for 24.5% of contemporary demand by weight. This includes durable materials for building construction, such as house wrap, insulation, and roofing substrates; as well as interior carpeting and other flooring.

This sector is heavily dependent on the residential construction market, which has slowed due to global inflation and economic issues. But there is an important segment which is non-residential, including institutional and commercial buildings in both the private and public sectors. In parallel it is being boosted by ongoing post-Covid stimulus spending. This is now coinciding with a renewal of consumer confidence, meaning residential construction is now forecast to outperform non-residential construction across the next five years.

Several pressing needs in contemporary housebuilding are favoring wider use of nonwovens. The desire for more energy-efficient buildings will boost sales of housewrap, such as Tyvek from DuPont and Typar from Berry; along with other spunlaid or wetlaid fiberglass insulation. A nascent market is developing in using airlaid pulp as a low-cost, sustainable building insulation option.

Carpeting and carpet underlay will see some benefits from reduced material costs favoring needlepunch substrates; but faster growth will be seen for wetlaid and drylaid underlays for laminate flooring, as modern interior design aesthetics prefer such flooring.

Geotextiles

Nonwoven geotextiles sales are broadly linked to the wider construction market, but have seen some benefit from public stimulus investments in infrastructure. These applications include agriculture, drainage liners, erosion control, and underlay for roads and railways. Combined these account for 15.5% of contemporary industrial nonwoven consumption, and volume demand is forecast to exceed the market mean across the next five years. 

The principal nonwoven variant employed are needlepunch, but there is also a market for spunbond polyester and polypropylene in crop protection. Climate change and more unpredictable weather are placing a new emphasis on erosion control and efficient drainage – which can be expected to increase demand for heavier needlepunch geotextile materials.

Filtration

Filtration, for air and water, is the second largest end-use sector of industrial nonwovens in 2024, 15.8% of the market. It was sector that did not see a significant downward deflection because of Covid-19. Indeed air filter media sales surged as a means to control virus transmission; a residual effect will remain, with more investment in fine filter substrates and more frequent replacements. This will contribute to a very positive outlook for filtration media across the next five years. Double-digit CAGR forecasts will make these the most lucrative end-use application by the end of the decade, overtaking construction nonwovens; although the latter will remain the largest application by volume.

Liquid filtration employs wetlaid and meltblown substrates in finer hot and edible oil filters, milk filters, pool & spa filters, water filters, and blood filters; while spunbonds are used extensively as either a support substrate for these, or to filter coarse particles. Projected improvements in global economies by 2029 will spur increased growth in liquid filtration.

Carded, wetlaid and needlepunch air filtration variants will also be boosted by the drive for more energy efficiency in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); and tighter particulate emissions regulations for factories.