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Airlaid: All The Way Back



Recovery Complete... What's Next?



By Phillip Mango
Phillip Mango Consulting




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The airlaid industry has enjoyed 12 months of reasonable prosperity. Supply and demand are in balance, prices are up, new products in automotive, agriculture and mattress barrier fabrics are promising, and expansion is in the air. Certainly, there have been some bumps in the road over the last year, but despite a weakening global economy, exploding petroleum prices—and even with fluff pulp pricing near its historical record high—all of the major airlaid producers are profitable.

While only a few years ago, airlaid producers worried about whether or not they would make money, today they worry about how much money they will make. But if the future of airlaid producers is more promising than it’s been for several years, the future of the airlaid industry is less clear. Having recovered from the massive overcapacity crisis of 2001-2002, the question now is…what’s next?

Déjà Vu...All Over Again


The current situation is very familiar to the airlaid industry; it is very much like it was in the years 2000-2001. Prices were high, profits were high, supply was tight, and markets like feminine hygiene core and wipes were growing. New markets like food pads, nonwoven mops, swim diapers and training pants all looked promising. Moist toilet tissue on a roll was going to require 50,000 tons of new capacity, and it was based on airlaid. Everyone wanted a piece (or bigger piece) of this spectacular industry.

Unfortunately, everyone built airlaid lines in 2001. Buckeye and Rayonier chased airlaid diaper dreams, Kimberly-Clark thought everyone wanted Rollwipes, and Concert wanted to dominate the absorbent core market. When the dust cleared, the airlaid industry had added about 33% to its existing global capacity, much of it in North America. Prices collapsed, markets failed to materialize, supply overwhelmed demand and the largest airlaid producers faced financial ruin.