Future business opportunities triggered by Ebola

Since the Ebola outbreak in Africa last year, health workers in full white gear have dominated the headlines of major news media around the world. Undoubtedly, these news reports are 100% true, and the crisis it caused is also true. Such disaster news photo reports not only provide materials and associations to studios that specialize in making disaster movies, but also attract the attention of the textile industry around the world. The reason is that many health workers who go to Africa are infected, and the protective clothing they wear can no longer withstand the Ebola invasion. The United States Agency for International Development and Assistance (USAID) believes that the ability to develop protective clothing that shields the Ebola virus has become the key to winning this battle against the Ebola virus. "Protective Clothing Development Award.

The Bioengineering Innovation and Design Center of Hopkins University in the United States developed protective clothing for health care workers in the first place. This kind of seemingly simple protective clothing requires the use of technical means to achieve both airtightness, temperature control and ventilation. Soon, the university joined the program established by the International Health Organization. The plan calls for innovative design concepts from around the world, and they have obtained a total of 1,500 development concepts to help medical and health workers fighting on the front lines protect against deadly viruses.

The development of this kind of protective clothing needs to have absolute safety and comfort, suitable for the humid and hot West African country environment, and must have the functions of heat and moisture transfer. Before that, in 2014, hundreds of health workers had died of Ebola virus infection. The cause of death was the poor protective effect of protective clothing. The new protective clothing developed by Hopkins University can effectively isolate the virus.

This new type of enhanced protective clothing hood has a wide line of sight and is connected to the protective clothing. The ventilation holes are located on the top of the head. The back drawing can effectively reduce the probability of virus intrusion. Compared with existing protective clothing, this cocoon-style protective clothing has increased Electric temperature control, natural circulation of dry air and other functions, among which the biggest medical function is to shield the invasion of viruses. The temperature control principle is taken from the cardiac arrest rescue equipment developed by the cardiologists of the university for heart patients. This protective clothing almost embodies the highest level of technical textiles.

However, in fact, the term "medical textile" is not the mainstream product of technical textiles as we are talking about, and even mainstream media around the world do not regard it as a key part of the fight against Ebola virus. In fact, the non-woven fabric industry or technical textile industry has not developed or discussed it as a key product, but this demand is imminent and is increasing day by day.

The world nonwovens market is entering the fast lane of development

The medical textiles mentioned above are only one of the non-woven products that are in urgent need of development. According to estimates by the world's nonwovens authority, during the period 2014-2019, the average annual growth rate of global nonwovens will be 6.97%. Nowadays, the construction industry has widely used non-woven fabrics, and the scope of use is becoming wider and wider, and the amount of use is also increasing, such as house insulation, roof materials and geotextiles. The demand for non-woven fabrics is expanding rapidly. The use of infrastructure and buildings in various countries is increasing, especially in the BRIC countries. The dual growth of population and economy represents the driving force of the world economy.

The same is true in other developing countries, where the demand for disposable medical supplies is growing strongly. As the population grows, the personal hygiene products market in developing countries is expanding, and the demand for medical products is also growing rapidly. Of course, it is very important that technical textiles are different from nonwovens. Technical textiles are high-value-added textile products that can provide additional functions, rather than supply chain products from fiber to fashion. Technical textiles include high-performance fibers, yarns, woven and knitted products, and non-wovens. Cloth, edging and composite fabrics. Non-woven cloth is another matter.

According to the world’s most important and authoritative nonwovens organization, the European Disposables and Nonwovens Association (EDANA), nonwovens should be defined as fibers, filaments or processed that can form a network and can be glued. The combined materials are non-woven fabrics, which do not include woven, knitted or knitted products. Almost all non-woven fabrics are technical textiles, but not all technical textiles are non-woven fabrics. However, the nonwovens market has changed a lot. Unstable raw material prices directly affect the price of non-woven fabrics, and are also restricted by crude oil or crude oil prices and other related factors. Manufacturers all over the world must determine the price of a product based on the cost of the product and the trend of crude oil prices. Therefore, price factors also affect the global nonwovens market.

According to the research report of Daguan Research Institute, the global health, industry, medical, geotechnical, and agricultural sectors have become the main markets for polypropylene. By 2020, its market value will reach 9 billion US dollars, and baby diapers and adult hygiene products will be in In the next 6 years, it will become the main market driving factor for polypropylene nonwovens. In the global market, China and India will become the largest markets. India’s nonwovens market is not comparable to China, but its demand potential is greater than China, with an average annual growth rate of 8-10%. As the GDPs of these two countries continue to grow, people's purchasing power will increase.

Unlike India, China’s nonwovens industry has developed rapidly in the past few years, and its total output has ranked second in the world. New areas such as medical textiles, flame retardant, protective, special composite materials and other nonwovens have also shown novel developments. situation. China's non-woven fabric industry is currently undergoing a deep transformation and has certain uncertainties. Some observers even believe that the annual growth rate of the Indian nonwovens market can even reach 12-15%. Today, India produces an average of 190,000 tons of nonwovens per year. In 2014, India’s per capita consumption was 155 grams, but in 2015 it increased to 355 grams and will reach 600 grams by 2020.

India's competitiveness cannot be ignored

About 12% of the textile industry in India is non-woven fabrics, while global non-woven fabrics account for 24% of the textile industry. According to relevant Indian media reports, the Indian nonwovens market will reach 45 million U.S. dollars in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.7%. This is both an opportunity and a challenge for the Indian textile industry. How big this opportunity is, a conclusion can be drawn from the analysis of the following phenomena.

    Many multinational nonwovens companies have entered India first. In 2015, 50 Western companies established nonwoven fabric manufacturing plants in India. Almost all foreign companies believe that due to the increase in disposable income, the consumption of technical textiles in India will also increase significantly.

India is a major textile economy second only to China. The world's top consumer regions include the United States, Western Europe and Japan. These three regions account for 65% of the total global nonwovens consumption. The average annual consumption rate of China's non-woven fabrics in the world is also higher, and the average annual growth rate is even higher, reaching 15%. A 2013 survey found that the consumption level of nonwovens in India is actually very low. India has a large population, but the per capita consumption of nonwovens is only US$0.04, while the overall per capita consumption level in the Asia-Pacific region is US$7.5, Western Europe US$34.90, and the United States US$42.20. Although India’s consumption of non-woven fabrics only accounts for 8.6% of the world, it has increased rapidly. Not only that, India’s labor prices are lower than China’s, which is why the West is optimistic about India’s consumption potential.

According to the European International Testing and Consulting Agency, the consumption level of nonwovens in India will increase by 20% from 2014 to 2018. The reason is that the birth rate of India's population is high, especially the increase in women, and the consumption potential is huge. By 2018, each woman in India will consume $2 in non-woven hygiene products. If so, the total consumption level can reach $82.4 billion. It can be seen from India's several five-year plans that the nonwovens and technical textile industry has become a key development area in India. India’s defense, security, health, roads and other infrastructure also have huge market opportunities for nonwovens. However, the bottleneck of the Indian nonwovens industry lies in the lack of skilled labor, the scarcity of expert consultants, and the lack of funds and technology. Nevertheless, India's nonwovens market and industrial potential cannot be ignored.

The Asia-Pacific region will dominate the world nonwovens market

Nevertheless, the growth rate of non-woven fabrics such as medical treatment and hygiene in India during 2016-17 will increase by 20%, and the output value will reach 1 billion US dollars. According to the research report of Grand View, the global demand for polypropylene nonwovens alone reached 1.95 million tons in 2013, which will increase to 3.1 million tons in 2020. The basis is that the global average annual growth rate from 2014 to 2020 is 6.9%. In 2013, the global demand for nonwovens was 8.68 million tons and will reach 13.6 million tons by 2020, and its growth rate coincides with the overall growth of 6.9%. In 2013, polypropylene products in the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 40% of the global market share. The main reason is the continuous expansion of the markets in India and China. That's why, the world's major multinational companies have been the first to enter this region.

EDANA believes that with the acceleration of globalization, sustainability and innovation movements, the center of gravity of world economic integration will shift eastward. The markets in Europe, America and Japan will gradually shrink. The low- and middle-income class in the world will become the world's largest consumer group, and the demand for non-woven fabrics in the agriculture and construction industries in the region will also blow out, followed by non-woven fabrics for health and medical use. Therefore, the Asia-Pacific region and the Europe, America, and Japan regions will become polarized. The global middle class will rise again. All manufacturers will face the middle and high-end groups. Due to the trend of profit, the products needed by the middle class will be mass-produced. High-tech products will be popular in high-income countries and continue to sell well. Those innovative products with environmentally friendly characteristics will be popular.

The concept of sustainability has been put forward for more than ten years. The nonwovens industry has provided the world with a sustainable development direction. It not only improves people's lives, but also protects the environment. Without this, the Asia-Pacific nonwovens industry, which continues to develop at a high speed, may be trapped by the lack of resources and the deterioration of the environment. For example, severe air pollution has appeared in many large cities in Asia. If companies do not follow certain industrial environmental rules, the results will be terrible.

The EDANA Association believes that the only way to solve this problem is through innovative and pioneering development technologies, such as the comprehensive application of biotechnology, nanotechnology, material technology and information technology. If consumers and suppliers can form a joint force, and enterprises use innovation as the driving force to directly affect the nonwoven industry, and improve human health, control pollution, reduce consumption, and maintain the environment through nonwovens, then the real new nonwovens market Will form.