Global Perspective: Focus On European Nonwovens Industry Data

After the impressive growth rate of 6.4% in 2020, the growth trend of European nonwovens is still strong in 2021, which once again demonstrates the innovation and investment ability of European nonwovens industry to cope with the new crown pneumonia crisis.

yield

According to the statistics of Edana, the output of Nonwovens in Europe will reach 3.219 million tons (surface area 87.617 billion square meters) in 2021, with a year-on-year increase of 2.1%. Among them, the output of Nonwovens in 27 countries of the European Union was 2.203 million tons, an increase of 2.2% over the same period of last year. The domestic production of most EU members maintained growth (Benelux Economic Union 5.4%, Spain 4.4%, Italy 4.9%, France 0.8%), but Germany decreased by 1.2%. Turkey and Russia account for 17.9% and 7.3% of total European production, respectively. European nonwovens production has increased by nearly 9% since 2019 (0.6% in 2019 and 6.4% in 2020).

Figure 1 trend of European nonwovens output in 2011-2021

Data source: Edana

　　 1、 Production by process

Three of the four netting processes, namely spinning and melting, dry and wet processes, will achieve the highest production in 2021 in terms of weight and surface area.

In 2021, compared with the previous year, the production of wet process will increase by 0.3% in surface area and 1.1% in weight. In the past decade, the output of wet nonwovens in Europe has increased by 3% annually, reaching 365500 tons in 2021, accounting for 11.7% of the total. The weight and surface area production of spinning and melting (including spunbonded, flash evaporation, melt blown, SMS, SMMs, etc.) will increase by more than 12% in 2020. In 2021, the weight and surface area will increase by 3.1% and 3.8%, respectively, reaching 1.2805 million tons (accounting for 41% of the total) and 58.255 billion square meters (accounting for 66.5% of the total surface area). In 2021, the weight of dry nonwovens (1286600 tons, up 2.4% year-on-year) accounted for 41.2% of the total output, but the surface area (196760 million square meters, an increase of 0.2% year-on-year) accounted for only 22.5%. The air flow decreased by 1.94 million square meters and surface area by 1.94 million tons.

Figure 2. Proportion of European production of various netting processes in 2021 (left: weight, middle: process, right: surface area)

Data source: Edana

　　 2、 Regional production

In general, spinning, melting and dry needling are the processes adopted in most European countries, while the production capacity of wet and air blown staple fiber netting processes is still relatively concentrated. In terms of production line installation, wet and dry spunlets are more prominent in Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey.

In 2021, among all European countries and regions, the largest increase in Nonwovens output is the Benelux Economic Union, with a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, accounting for 6.6% of the total European output. Germany covers almost all the netting and consolidation processes, and continues to maintain a leading position in Europe. In 2021, the output will reach 677500 tons (12782 million square meters). Although the weight decreased by 1.2% year on year, the proportion of Germany in the whole Europe and 27 countries of the European Union is still 21.7% and 30.8% respectively.

Fig. 3 output of Nonwovens in major European countries and regions in 2021

Data source: Edana

In 2011, Turkey's nonwovens output (weight) only accounted for 8.2% of the total European output, and 10 years later, the proportion reached 17.9% (weight 559000 tons, surface area 20.6 billion square meters). The growth in Turkey in the past decade was mainly attributed to the development of spinning, melting and Spunlaced nonwovens, which accounted for 79.9% of its total output; In 2021, the output (weight) of Italian nonwovens increased significantly, with a year-on-year increase of 4.9% (surface area increased by 2.6%), reaching 411400 tons (12.69 billion square meters), of which dry process production accounted for 37.8% of the total, and spinning and melting accounted for 46.6%; In Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, the output of nonwovens has been stable from 2017 to 2019, with an annual output of about 235000 tons, which will increase to 263600 tons in 2020-2021, including 155500 tons of spinning and melting technology; Other European countries, such as Estonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Switzerland and Norway, have also increased or decreased production.

application area

In 2021, the sales volume of Nonwovens in Europe will reach 3.0754 million tons, accounting for 98.51% of the output. The nonwovens are mainly used in absorbent sanitary products, wiping, medical treatment, civil engineering, transportation, filtration and other fields.

　　 1、 Absorbent sanitary products

In 2021, the consumption of Nonwovens in European hygiene products accounts for 27.7% of its sales volume (surface area accounts for 55.2%). In terms of the market of sanitary products, the sales of baby diapers (down 0.7%) and female sanitary products (up 0.1%) were basically the same as those in 2020, while the sales of incontinence products increased by 2.9%. Over the past decade, the European baby diaper market has grown by 4.0%, the female hygiene market by 2.9%, and incontinence products by 36.9% compared with 2011. At present, baby diapers still occupy the dominant position in the application of Nonwovens in sanitary products, accounting for 61.4%; Since 2014, adult incontinence products have surpassed female health products and become the second largest application area of Nonwovens in health products.

Figure 4. Consumption of Nonwovens for 2021 three types of sanitary products (in yellow, 1000 tons, in blue, in billion square meters)

Data source: Edana

　　 2、 Wet wipes

According to Euromonitor, in 2021, retail sales of personal care wipes in Europe increased by 1.9% (5.7% in 2020), baby wipes (61% market share) and universal wipes (21% market share) increased by 0.4% and 6.8% respectively. According to Edana statistics, in 2021, the number of nonwovens used in wipes is 554200 tons (5545000 tons in 2020 and 471800 tons in 2019).

　　 3、 Medical treatment

Generally speaking, different medical end products need different nonwovens produced by different processes. In 2021, the proportion of melt spun nonwovens in medical products is 71.6%, spunlaced nonwovens is 7.1%, and airflow staple nonwovens is 5.9%. In 2010-2019, the average annual sales of medical nonwovens by European manufacturers is about 71500 tons; Sales volume more than doubled in 2020 (118% in weight and 136.8% in surface area); In 2021, if measured by weight, the sales volume decreases by 1.1%, but the surface area increases again by 6.0%.

Figure 5 proportion of nonwovens consumed by various medical products in 2021

Data source: Edana

　　 4、 For civil engineering

In terms of weight, the consumption of Nonwovens for civil engineering ranks first in the durable terminal usage of nonwovens. In 2021, the delivery volume of Nonwovens for construction (residential and other industrial and civil buildings) will reach 324800 tons, accounting for 10.6% of the total sales volume of Nonwovens in Europe, with a year-on-year increase of 12.4% (the surface area increases by 14.0%); The delivery of Nonwovens for Geotechnical Engineering (Infrastructure) increased by 4.1% to 157700 tons.

　　 5、 Others

In 2021, the use of Nonwovens for vehicles (134300 tons, only 19700 tons more than ten years ago) will continue to decline, with a decrease of 1.0% in weight and 4.6% in surface area; The sales volume of Nonwovens for gas filtration reached 81700 tons (a year-on-year increase of 9.1%), and the sales of nonwovens used for drinking liquid (water, tea, milk, beverage, etc.) and other liquids were 55600 tons and 74000 tons, respectively; The consumption of Nonwovens in interior decoration is 71000 tons and 31000 tons respectively; The nonwovens used in agriculture reached 67400 tons (2573 million square ratio).

raw material

In 2021, the consumption of fibers, polymer chips / particles and adhesives in the European nonwovens industry will reach 3.3796 million tons, with a year-on-year increase of 2.6%. Compared with the output in 2021, this means that 8.3% of the raw materials did not eventually form nonwovens, which fluctuated from 7.7% to 9.5% over the past decade. Of the other materials, the consumption was 1.8709 million tons, of which the total consumption was 1.8709 million tons.

In 2021, the consumption of polyester (fibers and chips / granules) in the European nonwovens industry increased by 2.5% (by 22000 tons), accounting for 26.1% of the total consumption of raw materials. Compared with 2020, the consumption of polyester staple fiber increased by 2.3% (15900 tons) to 699000 tons, accounting for 37.4% of all fiber consumption. The consumption of recycled polyester staple fiber in 2021 increased by 6.9% year-on-year, and its proportion in polyester staple fiber consumption increased from 27.6% in 2012 to 35% in 2021. In the production of nonwovens with resin chips as raw materials, the consumption of polyester chips accounts for 13.8% of the total resin consumption.

In 2021, the use of polypropylene in European nonwovens industry reached 1.249 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.9%, accounting for 37.0% of the total consumption of all raw materials; 1520 tons of polyethylene fiber and 71500 tons of chips were consumed; The consumption of viscose fiber was about 245400 tons, with a year-on-year increase of 7.5%, of which 82.6% was used in the production of spunlaced nonwovens; The consumption of wood pulp was 341800 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.7%; The consumption of cotton fiber is 92500 tons, accounting for 4.9% of the consumption of nonwovens.

Trade

In 2021, the trade balance of EU nonwovens will be further tilted. The import volume doubled in the past decade will continue to rise, while the export volume will decline.

In 2021, the export volume of nonwovens from 27 EU countries to other countries and regions will reach 462800 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 4.5%; It was worth 2.27 billion euro, up 5.1% year on year. On the other hand, the import volume of nonwovens from 27 EU countries was 379800 tons, worth 1.573 billion euros, increasing by 6.4% and 9.2% respectively year-on-year. The international trade of Nonwovens in the 27 EU countries is very concentrated, and the export volume to the top five countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia and Switzerland) accounts for 51.4% of the total exports; The concentration is more obvious in imports, with imports from the top five countries (China, Turkey, Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom) accounting for 77.2% of all imports.

(source: China Industrial Textiles Association)

?