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| Issue date:01/12/2008 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Dec 2008 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
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by Staff Reporters
The market of technical textiles and nonwovens textiles is considered underdeveloped in major Asian countries, including China and India. Both China and India launched new government initiatives to encourage technical upgrade. With the positive measures, the Asian technical and nonwovens textiles sectors will continue to develop for further progress despite the global economic turmoil.
Nonwoven products for China
The nonwovens segment forms an important part of the Chinese technical and industrial textiles sector, although nonwovens is also being used in the apparel sector.
In recent years, the nonwovens segment has witnessed dynamic growth in both quality and quantity. The global output of nonwovens was about 5.5 million tons in 2007, of which, 31% came from China, representing 1.72 million tons.
Elsewhere in Asia, nonwoven outputs in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India were 340,000 tons (accounting for 6% of the global aggregate output), 230,000 tons (4%), 160,000 tons (3%) and 125,000 tons (2%) respectively.
In China, nonwovens textiles are applied in automotive, medical, bio-medical and personal hygiene.
Technical and nonwoven textiles (a relatively small amount of technical textiles in the China market is woven) accounted for 15.42% of the total output of textile and fibre production in China in 2007, up 12.97% from the previous year, according to industry estimates. The actual output of nonwovens production was 1.72 million tons in 2007, up 23.27% from the previous year.
This growth rate will take a slower pace under the current global economic downturn, industry experts say, but the nonwovens sector is less impacted than the conventional textile and apparel sectors, which are largely dependent on exports.
In contrast, many products in the nonwovens sector are made to satisfy domestic demands from the industrial sectors, especially automobiles, but the impact of the global economic turmoil will be felt, for example, as the demand for private cars in China is expected to decline in future.
A positive note was sent by the Chinese government through its announcement of RMB 4 trillion economic stimulus plan, whereby a number of large-scale infrastructure and construction projects will be activated in the next few years, bringing substantial opportunities to the technical and nonwovens textiles sectors. (Details are covered in “China Focus” on page 44. )
At present, the provinces of Guangdong (accounting for 17% of the national nonwovens ouput in 2007), Zhejiang (15%) and Shangdong (9%) are the three majors in the Chinese nonwovens sector, according to Prof Jian Xiangyu at the Nonwovens R&D Center of the Donghua University located in Shanghai.
In terms of technologies, various kinds of spunbonded, meltblown, SMS (spunbond-meltblown-spunbond) and coating machinery are employed. It is notable that the Chinese manufactures have entered the nonwovens sector for better profitability by using internationally advanced machinery.
Among application fields, the medical and bio-medical segments have great potential in China, industry experts say.
One of the potential markets in bio-medical nonwoven products is artificial vascular prosthesis, said Dr Chen Nanliang, Head of Technical Textile Engineering Research Center at the Donghua University. He told ATA Journal at a recent seminar organized by the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel.
Dr Chen explained that about one million people require surgery using artificial vascular prostheses in the world each year. However, the current global supply is about 600,000 tubes. If more artificial vascular prostheses are produced, there will be room for price reduction in the operation costs, which will be good news for many patients in China and around the world.
Additionally, domestic research in China is emphasized to strengthen the development of technical and industrial textiles, including the fields of raw materials, astronautics, construction, as well as medical and bio-medical uses.
Incentives granted in India
India is another potential market for technical and nonwoven textiles. It is expected by the optimistic Indian Ministry of Textiles to grow to a value of US$12.5 billion by 2012.
The launch in India of the National Technology Mission for Technical Textiles aims to promote the development of the technical textile industry. With a budget of US$170 million, it is being implemented during the 11th five-year plan (2007-2012).
Among its aims are to build up nonwovens and technical textile manufacturing and related machinery bases, as well as establishing centres for research and support with testing and standardization. The Indian government has identified four key sectors within the technical textile industry for immediate attention – medical and hygiene, geotextiles, agriculture and protective materials.
The Indian government plans to invest in 20 centres of excellence in research on nonwoven and technical textiles in the next five years.
Technical textiles are also now included in India’s Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF) scheme.
Launched in 1999, the TUF scheme provides a shot in the arm for the under developed sectors of the textile chain and will be continued during the 11th five year plan. It provides a 10% capital subsidy upfront for new projects involving new machinery for technical textiles, with the addition of a 5% interest subsidy on loans.
The technical textiles sector was not included in the earlier five-year plan period. Now, almost all technical textile machinery such as coating and laminating, spunmelt machinery, carded and thermal bonding machines and converting units are covered. The basic customs duty on imported technical textile machinery has also been reduced from 10% to 5%, so that the effective customs rate is around 20%.
The Indian government has also created Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with the aim of enhancing foreign direct investments and exports from India. There are fourteen Special Economic Zones in India that have been approved, which have focus on textile-related activities. These SEZs provide duty free imports and domestic procurement for 100% exports. Several tax incentives are provided for entities that are setting up their operations in SEZs. In addition to the incentive schemes provided by the government, some individual state governments have their own attractive schemes. The State of Gujarat provides a 10% investment subsidy for technical textile projects and most recently, State of Tamilnadu has come up with its new industrial policy aimed at promoting the manufacturing sector.
Unsurprisingly, Indian investors are now taking advantage of these favourable conditions.
A long-established cotton spinner established in 1954, Ginni Filaments was the first company in the country to install a modern European spunlace nonwovens line with an annual capacity of 12,000 tons, that is now primarily catering to export markets in southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Ginni has been followed in 2008 by Anjani Nonwovens, a new subsidiary of India’s Anjani Udyog which is poised to enter the nonwovens market having ordered a complete spunlace production line for the manufacture of cotton pads and wipes from Germany’s Fleissner.
Construction work on the new plant, which will be located in Mundra Sez, in Gujarat, will run until January 2009 and the facility is expected to start production next May, when its capacity will be 20 tons a day, rising to 40 tons a day within the space of a year.
Anjani Nonwovens will initially create 140 jobs, targeting markets in Europe, Japan and the US.
Artificial textiles needed in Middle East “islands”
In addition, some of the biggest opportunities are now to be found in the Middle East, and more specifically, in Dubai.
Since the beginning of the 21st Century when Crown Prince Maktoum decided to encourage tourism by building the Palm Island Jumeirah, building activities in Dubai have exploded.
Dubai’s coastline will expand from 72km to a staggering 1,500km, leading to many opportunities for materials such as geotextiles and roofing textiles |
When the second Palm Island, known as Jebel Ali, is completed, it will house a population of around 250,000 people – roughly equivalent to Dubai’s entire population in the early 1980s.
In fact, Dubai’s coastline will expand from 72 kilometres to a staggering 1,500 km as the result of current plans and these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to construction projects in Dubai and the surrounding Arab nations, leading to many opportunities for materials such as geotextiles and roofing materials.
Niche products in Europe and North America
While Asia’s producers are entering into the sector (mainly in the relatively medium- to low-end products), technical textiles are an important sector in Europe and the USA.
Technical textiles represent about 40% of both the production and consumption of all textiles in both the USA and West Europe.
The overall market for technical textiles is estimated to have an annual value of US$60 billion, with annual growth of 3.8% achieved every year since 1985 – although growth rates have varied wildly from sector to sector.
Germany continues to be the leader in this field, and according to the German Agency for Foreign Trade, technical textile exports from Germany during 2006 were worth US$3.9 billion, followed by those from the USA of US$3.4 billion.
It is Germany’s growth in new markets that best illustrates the potential that exists. For example, the country’s technical textile exports to China climbed by 32% to a value of US$91 million, those to Russia climbed by 35% to a value of US$111 million, and those to Poland by 28% to a value of US$245 million in 2006.
German and other European companies are doing many things to maintain competitiveness such as investing in R&D and securing intellectual property. Moreover, market environments are different in various application fields for technical and nonwovens sectors.
In automotive, for example, car builders tend to work with a small group of suppliers across global platforms to ensure uniformity of product, and so as the majors in medical and hygiene industries. Close co-operation with customers is key in supplying specialty fabrics to military, police and other governmental organizations.
In building and construction, local suppliers may be favoured by governmental projects and local private contractors for different reasons.
Technical and nonwovens sectors in Europe and North America, in particular, are niche products, rather than commodities. Meanwhile, lower end products with a less rigid requirements in respect of safety and performance are likely to be increasingly supplied by Asian producers.
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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