You won't get very far reading this year's top company report without hearing about rising raw material prices. Rising petroleum prices have impacted nearly everyone in the nonwovens value chain, from machinery and equipment suppliers to end users, and the world's largest nonwovens producers are no exception. The bulk of nonwoven materials are made from polypropylene or polyester, both petroleum-based raw materials, and their costs have been driven sharply higher in recent months. And, while many nonwovens producers have tried to compensate for these increases with improved efficiencies and even some price increases of their own, rising costs have impacted top line growth for many.
Despite these troubles, the nonwovens manufacturers profiled in this issue remain optimistic. There are currently no fewer than 15 nonwovens production lines being installed by the 42 companies featured in this issue. And, while a great deal of attention has been paid to growth in developing regions such as Latin America and Asia-Pacific, the greatest number of lines, seven, are being built in the U.S., showing that the North American industry continues to have growth potential.
Additionally, investments span the industry in terms of technology including glass nonwovens, needlepunched, spunmelt—using both polyester and polypropylene—and spunlaced processes. This range of investment proves that the nonwovens industry is growing in many areas, from consumer to industrial, and throughout the world. I'm sure we will be reporting on where all of this new capacity will penetrate in future editions of Nonwovens Industry.
The Report By The Numbers
This year our top companies report profiles 42 companies located throughout the world. Newcomers include construction specialist Owens-Corning, debuting at number 11, and South American spunmelt producer Fitesa, which is ranked number 42. We are always pleased to welcome new nonwovens companies into this annual issue as new additions provide greater scope to our report.
Dropping out of this year's report were Italian roll goods makers Tenotex, which was purchased by BBA Fiberweb late last year, and Pantex, which split into two companies in 2004.
Freudenberg continues its uninterrupted run as the world's largest producer of nonwovens, reporting $1.4 billion in sales in 2004 but this position continues to be threatened by sales gains among other large nonwovens producers such as DuPont and Kimberly-Clark, whose sales rose to $1.25 and $1.15 billion, respectively. Also, BBA Fiberweb, reported sales above $1 billion for the first time ever, thanks to two significant acquisitions.
Each company is ranked on the basis of their 2004 sales, which were translated from local currencies into U.S. dollars using the average exchange rate for 2004, as provided by www.oanda.com. The continued strength of the Euro continued to give Euro-based companies an edge over firms located in other regions, most notably the U.S. Therefore, performance should not be judged solely on sales figures—although ranking companies by sales was necessary due to the nature of this report—but also on key activities reported in each profile. All sales figures were reported by the company, except in certain cases, such as Kimberly-Clark, Foss Manufacturing and Colbond, where they were based on industry estimates.
Alphabetical Listing
| Company | Company ranking/last year's ranking | |
| Ahlstrom | 6/6 | |
| Andrew Industries | 33/36 | |
| Asahi Kasei | 12/13 | |
| Avgol | 25/26 | |
| BBA | 4/4 | |
| British Vita | 14/14 | |
| Buckeye | 9/9 | |
| Colbond | 8/8 | |
| Companhia Providencia | 40/39 | |
| Concert Industries | 27/28 | |
| DuPont | 2/2 | |
| Fibertex | 16/24 | |
| Fitesa | 42/* | |
| Foss Manufacturing | 18/14 | |
| Freudenberg | 1/1 | |
| Georgia | Pacific | 21/16 |
| Hollingsworth & Vose | 13/12 | |
| Jacob Holm | 32/31 | |
| Japan Vilene | 10/10 | |
| Johns Manville | 7/7 | |
| Kimberly | Clark | 3/3 |
| KNH | 39/41 | |
| Kuraray | 37/37 | |
| Lantor | 41/43 | |
| Lohmann | 17/13 | |
| Lydall | 24/27 | |
| Mitsui Chemicals | 23/21 | |
| Orlandi | 28/28 | |
| Owens | Corning | 11/* |
| Pegas | 30/35 | |
| PGI | 5/5 | |
| Precision Custom Coatings | 38/39 | |
| Propex Fabrics | 35/33 | |
| Polyfelt | 22/24 | |
| Sandler AG | 15/18 | |
| SI | 26/22 | |
| Suominen Nonwovens | 29/30 | |
| Textilgruppe Hof | 31/32 | |
| Toray Saehan | 36/38 | |
| Toyobo | 19/16 | |
| Unitika | 34/33 | |
| Western Nonwovens | 20/22 | |
| *new to this year's survey | ||
| Company 2004 Global Nonwovens Sales | ||
| 1 | Freudenberg | $1.4 billion |
| 2 | DuPont | $1.25 billion |
| 3 | Kimberly-Clark | $1.15 billion |
| 4 | BBA Fiberweb | $1 billion |
| 5 | PGI Nonwovens | $845 million |
| 6 | Ahlstrom | $827 million |
| 7 | Johns Manville | $550 million |
| 8 | Colbond | $265 million |
| 9 | Buckeye Technologies | $226 million |
| 10 | Japan Vilene | $197 million |
| 11 | Owens-Corning | $191 million |
| 12 | Asahi Kasei | $176 million |
| 13 | Hollingsworth & Vose | $175 million |
| 14 | British Vita | $170 million |
| 15 | Sandler | $162 million |
| 16 | Fibertex | $160 million |
| 17 | Lohmann | $158 million |
| 18 | Foss Manufacturing | $157 million |
| 19 | Toyobo | $145 million |
| 20 | Western Nonwovens | $140 million |
| 21 | Georgia-Pacific | $139 million |
| 22 | Polyfelt | $128 million |
| 23 | Mitsui Chemical | $127 million |
| 24 | Lydall | $126 million |
| 25 | Avgol | $123 million |
| 26 | SI Corporation | $120 million |
| 27 | Concert Industries | $117 million |
| 28 | Orlandi | $97 million |
| 29 | Suominen Nonwovens | $93.5 million |
| 30 | Pegas | $93 million |
| 31 | Textilgruppe Hof | $91 million |
| 32 | Jacob Holm | $91 million |
| 33 | Andrew Industries | $89 million |
| 34 | Unitika | $85 million |
| 35 | Propex Fabrics (formerly BP Amoco) | $82 million |
| 36 | Toray Saehan | $80 million |
| 37 | Kuraray | $71 million |
| 38 | Precision Custom Coatings | $70 million |
| 39 | KNH | $65 million |
| 40 | Companhia Providencia | $60 million |
| 41 | Lantor BV | $53 million |
| 42 | Fitesa | $37 million |
