COVID-19 has sparked a surge in demand, and the global spunlaced nonwovens market will reach US $7 billion 800 million in 2021. According to the latest survey by Smithers, the installed capacity of spunlaced nonwovens will rise to 2.62 million tons in 2026 compared with 2021.
Most of the growth comes from Asia, and China alone will install about 50 new production lines in 2021-2022.
In the forecast period, carding net (CC) will still be the main spunlaced process. By 2021, its market share will reach 75.6% and will not decline significantly. In the next five years, the demand for wet Spunlaced (WLS) will increase, while the market share of combed net / wood pulp / carding and spunbonded / wood pulp Spunlaced will decline. Concerns about sustainable development will lead to the fastest growth rate of the emerging combing / airflow netting Spunlaced technology, and its global consumption increased by more than four times during the Smithers study period.
Wet wipes (baby care, home care, industrial, personal care) account for approximately 64.7% of all Spunlaced production in 2021. Personal care wipes and wet toilet paper for adults and young children are expected to grow fastest by 2026. The demand for durable applications will be more restrained; Although there will be new market opportunities in the field of consumer hygiene, Spunlaced is a sustainable alternative to competitors of polyester or polypropylene based nonwovens, such as ultra-thin top cover cloth for women's sanitary napkins.
With the imminent threat of COVID-19 fading, the main trend of change in the first half of 2020 will be the development of more sustainable nonwovens. In general, this will benefit Spunlaced manufacturers as they are trying to develop completely plastic free wipes. This driver will continue to be stimulated by the EU disposable plastics directive, but brand owners are also interested in polymer free wipes that can be sold as high-quality environmental products. The main way to achieve this goal is to widely use biodegradable fibers such as rayon, leges, wood pulp and cotton, and correspondingly reduce the use of spunbonded polypropylene and polypropylene fibers.