Karen McIntyre, Senior Editor02.18.14
How quickly will new capacity be absorbed? This is the question on the minds of everyone doing business in spunmelt and spunbond, a market that has seen unprecedented investment during the past five years. The combined capacity of the many new lines that have either recently come onstream or are currently under construction is estimated above 500,000 tons. Experts disagree on exactly how long it will take for all of this capacity to be absorbed by the industry, but all agree that competition has intensified within the market for spunmelt nonwovens.
“I believe in general and especially for non hygiene applications an oversupply situation exists for polypropylene spunbond,” says Serkan Gogus, commercial director of Mogul Nonwovens, Gaziantep, Turkey. “There are continuous investments and old lines which can’t sell hygiene so unless there’s a large increase in demand this doesn’t seem likely to change.”
Mikael Staal Axelsen, CEO of Fibertex Personal Care is more optimistic. His company makes spunmelt nonwovens in Denmark and Malaysia and is currently adding a fourth line in Malaysia in response to growth in the region
“I believe in general and especially for non hygiene applications an oversupply situation exists for polypropylene spunbond,” says Serkan Gogus, commercial director of Mogul Nonwovens, Gaziantep, Turkey. “There are continuous investments and old lines which can’t sell hygiene so unless there’s a large increase in demand this doesn’t seem likely to change.”
Mikael Staal Axelsen, CEO of Fibertex Personal Care is more optimistic. His company makes spunmelt nonwovens in Denmark and Malaysia and is currently adding a fourth line in Malaysia in response to growth in the region
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