Japanese Non-woven Exporters Value the Chinese Market

According to a new study, the amount of non-woven Japanese manufacturers exported to China in 2009 was almost twice that of the United States.

According to the latest research from Textiles Intelligence, a British company, the amount of non-woven fabrics exported to the United States was 8.822 billion yen (88.5 million US dollars) in 2009, while the number of sales to China was small, but the amount of exports was 16.686 billion yen, which was against the United States. More than twice the amount of the export.

Undoubtedly, the sales of non-woven fabrics vary in price and type depending on the export market. In addition, for some products sold in the market, the high-priced nylon non-woven items accounted for the majority, while the exports to other markets were based on low-priced polyester and polypropylene products.

The information clearly shows that China is now providing a huge export market for Japanese manufacturers' non-woven value-added products. In the past, Japan's non-woven value-added products were mainly exported to the United States market, but less to Europe.

Chinese customers need a large number of nylon-based high-performance spunbond and meltblown non-woven materials. This material is a Japanese specialization project that can be widely used in a variety of industrial applications.

In contrast, U.S. imports are mainly low-cost polypropylene-based and polyester non-woven materials, which are mainly used in the health and medical sectors.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the current export of high-priced and high value-added products to China is one of the main strategies of most Japanese non-woven manufacturers.

In addition, the non-woven market has a lot of growth potential. For example, although China's auto sales grew by 45% in 2009 and its output reached 13.6 million vehicles, it has become the world's largest auto market. In 2009, Japan Vilene, the manufacturer of automotive products, had sales of only 0.2% in China.

In 2009/10, Japan's Asahi Kasei Fibers had sales of only 5% in China. However, the company is setting targets to export many important value-added branded products, expecting sales in China to increase to at least 10% in the near future.

Other Japanese manufacturers including Kuraray and Toyobo (Toyobo) also hope to increase their sales in China. All four manufacturers have set up subsidiaries in China to increase sales in China.

In addition, if the trilateral free trade agreement between China, Japan, and South Korea is completed by 2012, China will further open up the market for Japanese manufacturers.

The report entitled "Japanese Nonwovens Producers Look to the Chinese Market to Add Value" was published in the recently published Technical Textile Markets magazine by Textiles Intelligence.