Japanese company expands non-woven production capacity in Asia

With the rapid economic development in Asia and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, the demand for disposable diapers in the region will continue to increase. In order to meet market needs, Japanese companies have recently increased their capital to expand non-woven production capacity in Asia.

Mitsui Chemicals announced in November last year that it plans to invest approximately US$61 million to expand Sunrex Industries’ wholly-owned subsidiary Sunrex Industrial’s spunbond non-woven fabrics production capacity to enable the production of spunbond nonwovens for sanitary uses from the current 34,000 tons Increased to 49,000 tons per year, and it is estimated that the expansion project will be put into production in April 2012. Together with Mitsui Sanitary Materials (Thailand) Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the East Coast Industrial Zone in Rayong Province, Thailand, with a capacity of 30,000 tons/year of spunbond nonwovens, Mitsui Chemicals will produce spunbond non-woven fabrics. Will reach 79,000 tons/year.

Asahi Kasei Textile Co., Ltd. announced on March 9 that it plans to invest approximately JPY 5 billion in the establishment of a spunbond non-woven fabric manufacturing and sales company in Thailand. It is expected that the first phase of the project will be put into operation in September 2012 after an annual output of 20,000 tons of equipment is put into operation. The total production capacity of non-woven fabrics will reach 42,000 tons/year.

Toray Industries and Toray Advanced Materials Korea (TAK) recently stated that they plan to establish a new company called Toray Integrated Technologies Jakarta in Indonesia in September 2011, with a planned production capacity of 20,000 tons/year, which is expected to be 2013. Full production started in June. Toray Industries stated that the rapid economic growth in ASEAN countries and the increase in people’s income have led to a change in lifestyle. It is expected that Indonesia’s disposable diaper market will grow at an average annual rate of 14%, and the demand will increase from 1.9 billion in 2010 to 2015. About 3.7 billion tablets prompted hygienic manufacturers to seek opportunities to establish new production facilities or expand existing facilities. Toray Group's current polypropylene spunbonded non-woven production facilities include a 43,000 tpa/year production line of South Korea (TAK) and a 38,000 t/y production line of Nantong Toray.