Although the demand for the materials used in nonwoven masks or medical gowns greatly increased as people have relied on them to slow the spread of infection from the coronavirus, so has demand for wet tissue in Japan as consumers have focused on cleanliness to stop infection. Beginning early in 2020, companies reported surges in demand for sanitization wipes and other wet tissue products. Table 1 shows the amount of production of wet tissue in Japan. The figures in this table are based on a report furnished by the Japan Hygiene Products Industry Association. The year represents not the calendar year but the business year. For example, fiscal year 2019 represents the period from April 2019 to March 2020. The amount of production of wet tissue materials began to increase greatly beginning in 2015 and really exploded in 2020, when sales increased  20.6% compared to the previous fiscal year with 982 million in 2019. The first case of coronavirus was reported in Japan in January 2020 and demand for masks and wet tissue began to increase rapidly. Because the production from January to March in 2020 was included in the amount of the production of 2019, it would become the high growth rate. The amount of production of 2020 (from April 2020 to March 2021) has not been yet announced, but it is expected to be even higher than the year before.

By usage, sanitization wipes increased the most, growing 25.1% compared with the previous fiscal year with 293 million in 2019. The amount of production of wet tissue for sanitization has been increasing consistently, showing the high interest in hygiene. Meanwhile, baby use had been leveling off after reaching 230 million in 2016. It increased 19.7% to 267 million in 2019. As far as the baby wipes market, it is hard to expect significant growth in the future because of the decreasing birth rate in Japan.

However, the use of wipes in nursing homes had been limited, especially compared to baby wipes, but now it is expected to grow more quickly as more people are considered elderly. This market will therefore make up for some of the sales lost in the baby care market.

The quantity of demand for nonwoven fabric used to produce wet tissue were estimated to be 42,300 tons in 2019, and most of them were made using spunlaced nonwoven fabrics but other technologies in wipes are airlaid and wetlaid.