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The Textile Magazine
JUly 2012
Nonwoven textiles registering
sustained growth
technical textiles
Nonwovens is a growing segment
of the textile industry. The Brussels-
based EDANA has reported that
nonwovens based on production
volume grew at 5.7 per cent in 2011.
According to EDANA, sectors such
as baby diapers, wipes, geotextiles,
automotive textiles and agrotextiles
recorded good output. In spite of
economic slowdown in Europe, the
industry has registered reasonable
growth.
In a press release, Mr. Jacques
Prigneaux, EDANA’s Market Anal-
ysis and Economic Affairs Director,
stated that spunmelt production has
recorded successive growth of more
than nine per cent in 2010 and 2011.
According to EDANA, China is
EU’s important supplier and EU-27
was a net exporter of nonwovens.
India is also registering a steady
growth in nonwovens. Recently,
Mr. Thayumanavan, General Man-
ager - Polypropylene Development
of Reliance Industries Ltd., estimat-
ed India’s installed spunlaid capac-
ity to be 170,000 tons. Consumption
is estimated to be 140,000 tons. The
growth in the past six years has been
phenomenal and has recorded ap-
proximately 50 per cent CAGR.
According to Thayumanavan,
China’s polypropylene nonwovens
capacity is over one million tons.
Mr. C.K. Wong, Chairman and
CEO of Hong Kong-based U.S. Pa-
cific Nonwovens Industry, who has
been a frequent visitor to India in the
past few years, says 90 per cent of
India’s spunmelt production is spun-
bond fabrics and the country has tre-
mendous scope to grow in the non-
wovens and technical textiles sector.
Almost 10 per cent of India’s
spunbond production goes into
medical and hygiene products, and
the majority share is taken up by the
packaging sector, adds Mr. Thayu-
manavan.
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By Seshadri Ramkumar, Texas Tech University, USA
Mr. Seshadri Ramkumar