As we went to press, Kuraray, one of Japan’s leading nonwovens producers, announced it was restructuring its operations, stopping production of drylaid nonwovens entirely and consolidating its meltblown capacity into one plant. The company said increased competition from other Asian countries and a declining domestic demand were factors that led to this decision.

Kuraray’s efforts reflect a movement in the Japanese nonwovens industry where companies are taking efforts to proactively steel themselves against challenging market conditions. Where Japan was considered a global leader—in terms of both sales growth and product innovation—in the nonwovens and absorbent categories, a declining birth rate and increased foreign competition from within Asia have created struggles for many of its key players.

Early last year, two of the country’s largest suppliers of nonwovens to hygiene applications, Mitsui Chemicals and Asahi Kasei, combined the bulk of their nonwovens operations to create a joint venture company capable of making more than 140,000 tons of nonwovens per year, largely serving the hygiene market. At the time, shrinking domestic demand for baby diapers was considered a key motivator behind the plan. Meanwhile, on the end user side of the market, Oji Kinocloth exited the Japanese baby diaper market earlier this year, deciding to instead focus on adult diapers in Japan while seeking global opportunities. Other diaper manufacturers like Kao and Unicharm continue to look beyond Japan’s boarders for growth opportunities.

Birth rates have been dropping in Japan for years. Children under the age of 15 currently account for less than 12% of the country’s population while 30% are 65 years or older. While somebaby diapers sales losses have been recouped by adult diapers, higher production costs in Japan have encouraged some hygiene companies to transfer some production to Asia where they are coincidentally also finding more promising growth prospects.

The far reaching effects of these shifts on the future of the Japanese nonwovens industry can’t yet be known, but with domestic nonwovens production down 8% last year and demand declining for five straight years, beginning in 2019, difficulties are certainly being felt in this once thriving market for nonwovens.

As always, we appreciate your comments.


Karen McIntyre
Editor
[email protected]