The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the global market for a number of non-wovens-based personal protective equipment (PPE) products, according to a new study. As their demand continues to soar, producers are investing in new machinery and expanding capacity to avoid supply shortfalls seen at the pandemic's onset and allow the market to renormalise, it found.

The capacity expansion is also aimed at mitigating lost sales in other key markets, like automobile and furniture manufacturing, both of which are declining amid the pandemic due to dampened consumer spending, the study by US-based The Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, found.

The group recently examined the impact of the pandemic and other trends on the global non-wovens industry.

Meltblown non-wovens are projected to post a 12 per cent growth in 2020 and their demand is forecast to grow by 6.3 per cent per year till 2024 to $6.71 billion, boosted by a big demand spike in 2020 due to the pandemic.

As the virus spread, surging demand for meltblown used in crucial medical supplies like masks caused supply shortages and price hikes that were offset by losses in the large automotive filter market, as the need to combat the spread of COVID-19 boosted use of protective gear while leading to shutdowns of many automotive manufacturing facilities, The Freedonia Group said in a press release.

Spunbond non-wovens continue to benefit from the popularity of composite non-wovens and their demand is forecast to grow 3.3 per cent annually till 2024 to 5.23 million metric tonnes.

Spunbond non-wovens also saw a demand surge in medical and hygiene product applications in the first half of 2020 due to the pandemic.