Japanese Nonwoven Exporters Attach Importance To Chinese Market

According to a new study, 2009

According to the latest research of Textiles Intelligence of British business information company, the amount of Japanese non-woven fabric exported to the United States in 2009 was 8 billion 282 million yen (US $88 million 500 thousand), while the sales volume to China was relatively small, but the export amount amounted to 16 billion 686 million yen, which was two times more than the US export amount.

Admittedly,

The information clearly shows that China is now providing a large export market for Japanese manufacturers' nonwoven added value products, while in the past Japan's non-woven value-added products were mainly exported to the US market, but less to Europe.

Chinese customers need a large number of nylon based high-performance spun and melt blown nonwovens, which are Japanese specialty projects and can be widely used in many industrial applications.

In comparison, imports from the United States are mainly low value polypropylene and polyester nonwoven materials, mainly used in the health and medical sectors.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the current export of high unit prices and high value-added products to China is one of the major strategies of most Japanese nonwoven manufacturers.

In addition, the nonwoven market has great potential for growth.

For example, although China's auto sales grew by 45% in 2009, and its output reached 13 million 600 thousand, it has become the world's largest auto market. In 2009, Japan Vilene, a manufacturer of automotive products, had only 0.2% sales in China.

In 2009/10, Japan's Asahi Kasei Fibers (Asahi Asahi) has only 5% sales in China.

However, the company is setting targets to export many important value-added brand products, and expects sales in China to increase to at least 10% in the near future.

Other Japanese manufacturers, including Kuraray (warehouse) and Toyobo (Dongyang spinning), also hope to increase their sales share in China.

The 4 manufacturers have set up subsidiaries in China to boost sales in China.

In addition, if China, Japan and South Korea's three sides free trade agreement is completed by 2012, China will further open its market for Japanese manufacturers.

The report, entitled "Japanese Nonwovens Producers Look to the Chinese Market to Add Value" (Japanese nonwoven manufacturers expect to increase sales of value-added products to the Chinese market), is published in the recent issue of the Journal of Add.