Japanese exports of nonwoven fabrics during January-September 2016 increased by 8% year-on-year to US$483.2 million, thus overtaking exports of acrylic staple fiber to become the largest export item.
Acrylic staple fiber exports during the nine months dropped 15% to US$400.6 million because of stagnant market conditions and because of the influence of China’s anti-dumping duties.
The September export volume of nonwoven fabrics also grew by 4% over the same month of last year to 69.9 million square meters, and surpassed the total volume for woven and knitted fabric exports (68.8 million square meters). The September export value climbed 21% to US$56 million.
It should be noted that nonwoven fabrics include expensive artificial leather. However, even if artificial leather is included, nonwoven fabrics are increasingly playing a leading role in textile exports.
Japanese nonwoven fabric production remained flat during January-September 2016 due to low consumption.