Ambitious spunmelt investment continued in 2014 and into 2015 despite the fact that literally hundreds of thousands of tons of capacity have come onstream since 2010. In recent months, new lines have been announced in Brazil, Russia, Poland, Spain, Turkey, India and Thailand, adding an estimated 100,000-plus tons of new capacity to global spunmelt supply, a market that has already seen ambitious investment during the past half decade.

According to nonwovens industry consultant Price Hanna Consultants, Inc., the size of the global spunbond/spunmelt market was more than 3.3 million tons in 2014, up more than 6% over 2013 as the rate of capacity growth reflected a race among producers to install modern technology to meet changing and growing demand and position themselves in high growth regional markets. “We expect the growth in global capacity from 2014-2019 to average less than 3% per year,” says principal David Price. “Year-over-year annual capacity growth may be higher due to uneven installations of capacity.”

Meanwhile, global growth for nonwovens made from this technology is growing 5% per year in tons and higher in square me