Nonwoven market is expected to grow at a rapid pace, especially in the Asian region, mainly due to the increase of population, according to industry representatives.

According to a recent research report on 'Nonwoven materials & products (polypropylene, polyester, nylon and others) market for disposable and durable applications - global industry analysis, size, share, growth, trends and forecast, 2013 – 2019' by Transparency Market Research (TMR), a market intelligence company, nonwoven materials & products market is expected to reach US$ 45,363.7 million by 2019, growing at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2013 to 2019.

In an interview with Fibre2Fashion correspondent Ilin Mathew, Nina Kopola, President and CEO of Suominen Corporation, said, “I clearly see that nonwovens market is still growing quite nicely. It grows both in the developed and the developing world.”

“Growth of the global middle class is a great demand driver for nonwovens and demographically, the global growth in population directly affects demand for nonwovens,” she adds.

Explaining further, Toshio Takanashi, President of Asahi Kasei Fibers, says, “It is said that demand for nonwovens was 3,300 thousand tons per year in 2012 and expected to be 4,950 thousand tons in 2017.”

“As Asian market grows due to steady increase of population, we can expect increasing demand, as well as higher demand for upgraded quality,” he opines.

The TMR report states that global nonwoven materials and products market was dominated by the Asia Pacific region, which accounted for 40.4% of global volume consumption in 2012. Growth of the nonwoven materials and products market in Asia Pacific is mainly driven by the increasing demand from the medical agriculture industry in countries such as China and India.