World Top 40 Nonwovens Producers Released In 2020

The global nonwovens industry appears to be slowing down in 2019. After several years of ambitious investment and some fairly aggressive mergers and acquisitions, many of the major nonwovens producers seemed to be evaluating their assets and focusing on innovation last year. This means that there is not much significant change in the ranking of this year's top 40 reports. No new companies joined and no one left.

Of course, the situation in 2020 is quite different. With the spread of the new coronavirus worldwide in the first and second quarters of 2020, nonwovens manufacturers have quickly mobilized to increase capacity and shift their focus to technology and products to help stop the spread of the virus.

In fact, many industry experts say that the investment and demand level of nonwovens has reached an unprecedented level. Countries all over the world are looking at the materials used in masks, surgical clothing and other personal protection products, and the nonwoven industry ushered in the highlight moment.

Many nonwovens manufacturers, who had never been involved in masks and medical gowns, quickly redistributed capacity. John Manville, an architectural expert, has set up a production department in North America for medical surgical suits and masks. There are also rumors that FITESA will increase its melt blown line.

In the same way, companies that have been deeply involved in these areas have greatly increased their production capacity. Berry global has not only increased global melt blown capacity, but also installed nine production lines worldwide to produce masks. DuPont launched a program to improve tevek nonwovens for protective clothing. Jacob Holm, in partnership with under armour, has greatly increased production by producing medical clothing and masks for emergency personnel, and the company has announced a global investment plan. Filter specialist lydall, with the help of the U.S. Department of defense, has added two meltblown lines in Rochester, New Hampshire, to supply the mask market.

The list continues, and the nonwovens industry will face unprecedented expansion, with new production lines all over the world. Although they initially aimed to meet the demand for personal protective products, this was not only caused by the current epidemic, but also out of governments' call for strategic storage of these items for the future. However, this demand will not last forever, and eventually these companies need to find new uses and markets for these materials.

This year's report of the world's top 40 nonwovens producers includes 40 nonwovens producers worldwide. Many of the leading companies are located in mature markets such as the United States and Western Europe, and companies from developing regions are also playing an increasingly important role. Many companies from developing countries such as Brazil, Turkey, China and the Czech Republic have emerged in this year's top 40. As these emerging market companies continue to grow, we are bound to see their rankings rise in the next few years.

In addition, low & Bo, 14th in the list NAR was acquired by Freudenberg, the world's second largest nonwovens producer, in the first half of this year. The acquisition will allow the company to further expand its technical expertise in Nonwovens and open up new business areas.

As in previous years, the ranking is based on the sales of each company in 2019, and for comparison, all sales are converted from domestic currency to US dollars. Since exchange rate fluctuations can have a significant impact on the rankings, we should not stick to the rankings when we look at this report. We should focus on all the innovative initiatives and investments made by these companies. Most of the sales listed in the table come from data provided by companies themselves, except Kimberly Clark, Saudi German nonwovens and Johns Manville, whose data are estimated based on industry news.