By Kin Ohmura, Osaka Marketing Service


In 2020, production capacity of nonwoven fabrics was about 15.6 million tons globally. Of this, Asian production represented just under 7 million tons or 44.6% of the total. Table one shows the amount of production within the main countries of Asia.

Nonwovens production growth continues to increase. In 2018-2019, production grew from 5-7% to 10%. Products like masks, gowns and wet tissues which were in high demand during 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic helped the growth rate increase to 18.1%.

China is the largest manufacturer of nonwoven fabrics in the world, and the amount of nonwovens made in China equal to about one-third of the rest of the world. In 2020, Chinese production accounted for 33.9% of the whole world with 5.3 million tons. Not only was China the largest manufacturer, it was also the country seeing the highest growth rate of nonwovens production.

Elsewhere in Asia, Indian production has grown steadily, surpassing Japanese production in 2016 to become the second largest nonwovens producing country in Asia. The gap between China and India continues to be large with China making about 10 times as many nonwovens per year as India, but experts expect the gap to narrow as the Indian population grows and more consumers use nonwoven products.

Global production of nonwovens is expected to surpass 20 million tons in 2025 and China is expected to continue to lead the pack. However, exports from China into other Asian countries will be impacted by investments planned in India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, which are aiming to be more self sufficient.

Meanwhile, production has leveled off in Japan, Korea and Taiwan and future increases are not expected.