Nonwovens - quantities and prices up
20/08/2007
According to figures released by Edana—the international association serving the nonwovens and related products industries—production of nonwovens in Europe grew by 6.5% last year to reach 1.49 million tonnes.
According to an estimate, based on the same sample of companies in 2005 and 2006, the average price of nonwovens also appears to have increased by almost 3% from €3.33 to €3.43 per kg. As a result the total turnover of the European nonwovens industry is estimated at around €5.1 million.
Pierre Wiertz,general manager of Brussels-based Edana said on revealing the figures that the highest growth seemed to have come from companies involved in the needling process, with an increase of 13.8 % on the previous year.
Polymer-based nonwovens also witnessed an impressive growth with over 10% increase in 2006.
The main end-use for nonwovens remains the hygiene market with a 33% share of deliveries, but the most significant growth area for nonwovens in 2006 was garments (14.4 %).
Polypropylene, either in fibre or granule form, continues to be the most important polymer used in the European nonwovens industry accounting for 766,200 tonnes, 48.4% of the total fibre.
In 2006, the 27 European Union member states exported 215,554 tonnes of nonwovens (compared to 193,716 tonnes in 2005) at a value of almost €928 million, which represents a 11.3% increase in volume and 14.4% in value compared to the previous year.
