Home / News / European technical textiles grows faster than its economy

European technical textiles grows faster than its economy

22 Jan '15

4 min read

According to a report from Commerzbank, in the period from 2007 to 2013, the European manufacturers of technical textiles saw stronger growth than the European economy as a whole.

Although, above-average slumps were visible in the crisis years; 2008 and 2009 with it being more particular in 2009.

The non-woven fabrics segment, the production of which has increased by 11 per cent since 2011, made a substantial contribution to this growth.

“For 2015, it is assumed that this segment as well as the other technical textiles areas will see a moderate rise of approximately 2 per cent in the production index,” the report informs.

With regards to textile-reinforced fibre composites, the high levels seen in 2007 will not be attained again due to weak demand in France, Spain, and Italy.

In contrast, German, British, and eastern European manufacturers posted considerable increases in production.

Technical textiles are conquering more and more new application areas and are superseding conventional materials.

Examples of this are reinforcement materials made of textile in concrete construction, artificial arteries in medical technology, and textile sandwich materials in vehicle construction and sport.

At the same time, new manufacturing methods are constantly being developed. Technology leadership is, therefore, a key success factor.

“The German sector is regarded as the global technology market leader, thanks to the excellent networking with the German research sector,” said Jürgen Grebe, author of the report.

In this respect, he stated, the focus was on high-quality, sophisticated product areas, and the sector was avoiding to the greatest possible degree competition with suppliers of mass-produced goods and low-quality products.

“The German sector is predominantly the result of a structural change from traditional textiles producers to become highly technical and specialist manufacturers of high-quality textile products,” added Grebe.

Through to 2018, the global market for conventional textiles is set to grow from somewhat more than
US $130 billion at present to as much as $160 billion, the report informs.

In this respect the most important buyer area remains the vehicle construction industry. Yet sectors such as construction textiles and geotextiles, as well as niches such as ecotextiles, are gaining in significance.

With non-woven fabrics, it is expected that sales worldwide will increase from $33 billion dollars at present to more than $42 billion by 2017, with the biggest buyer area being the hygiene sector.

Higher growth rates are believed to be possible for composites – in particular due to strong demand in the buyer sectors vehicle construction, wind energy, and aviation.

According to the report, at present, the global market volume for fibre-reinforced materials is estimated to be just less than 100 billion US dollars.