Spunbond, Meltblown Nonwovens Producers Expand Capacity to Meet COVID PPE Needs

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Jul 06, 2020, 10:12 ET

CLEVELAND, July 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the global market for a number of nonwovens-based personal protective equipment products (PPE), such as disposable masks and wipes. As demand for these products continues to soar, nonwovens producers are investing in new machinery and expanding capacity in order to:

avoid the supply shortfalls seen at the pandemic's onset
allow the market to renormalize
mitigate lost sales in other key markets, like automobile and furniture manufacturing – both of which are declining amid the pandemic due to dampened consumer spending

Meltblown nonwovens to post 12% growth in 2020

Demand for meltblown nonwovens is forecast to grow 6.3% per year through 2024 to $6.71 billion, boosted by a big demand spike in 2020 due to COVID-19. As the virus spread, surging demand for meltblown used in crucial medical supplies like masks caused supply shortages and price hikes that were offset by losses in the large automotive filter market, as the need to combat the spread of COVID-19 boosted use of protective gear while leading to shutdowns of many automotive manufacturing facilities.

Spunbond nonwovens continues to benefit from popularity of composite nonwovens

Demand for spunbond nonwovens is forecast to grow 3.3% per year through 2024 to 5.23 million metric tons. Spunbond nonwovens also saw a demand surge in medical and hygiene product applications (e.g., masks, wipes) in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic. Spunbond demand gains will be supported by the continued popularity of using spunbond webs (usually with meltblown products) to produce composite nonwovens, which have a favorable blend of characteristics.

Looking for more?

The Freedonia Group's new Global Spunbond Nonwovens and Global Meltblown Nonwovens studies examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and other trends on the global nonwovens industry.

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