As demand slows down and production capacity increases, the global nonwoven industry continues to face challenges in 2022. In addition, factors such as rising raw material prices, global inflation, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have almost comprehensively affected the performance of manufacturers this year. The result is mostly stagnant sales or slow growth, challenging profits, and limiting investment.
However, these challenges have not stopped the innovation of non-woven fabric manufacturers. In fact, manufacturers are more actively involved than ever before, with newly developed products covering all major areas of non-woven fabrics. The core of these innovations lies in sustainable development. Non woven fabric manufacturers are responding to the call to seek more environmentally friendly solutions by reducing weight, using more renewable or biodegradable raw materials, and recyclable and/or recyclable materials. These efforts are to some extent driven by legislative actions such as the EU SUP directive, and are also a result of the increasing demand for more environmentally friendly products from consumers and retailers.
In this year’s global top 40, although many leading companies are located in mature markets such as the United States and Western Europe, companies in developing regions are also constantly expanding their role. The scale and business scope of enterprises in Brazil, Türkiye, China, the Czech Republic and other regions in the nonwoven industry continue to expand, and many companies have focused on business growth, which means that their ranking will continue to rise in the next few years.
One of the important factors that will affect the ranking in the coming years is definitely the M&A activities within the industry. Companies such as Freudenberg Performance Materials, Glatfelt, Jofo Nonwovens, and Fibertex Nonwovens have achieved significant growth in mergers and acquisitions in recent years. This year, Japan’s two largest non-woven fabric manufacturers, Mitsui Chemical and Asahi Chemical, will also merge to form a company worth $340 million.
The ranking in the report is based on the sales revenue of each company in 2022. For comparison purposes, all sales revenue is converted from domestic currency to US dollars. Fluctuations in exchange rates and economic factors such as raw material prices can have a significant impact on rankings. Although ranking by sales is necessary for this report, we should not be limited to ranking when viewing this report, but rather all the innovative measures and investments made by these companies.
Post time: Oct-07-2023