According to METI statistics, Japanese production of nonwoven fabrics in July increased by 6.5% over the same month of last year to 30,498 tons.
By item, spunlaced nonwovens sharply increased by 25.9% to 4,538 tons thanks to vigorous demands for applications in wet wipes, face masks and cosmetic articles. Spunbonded/meltblown nonwovens, for which Japanese makers have been relocating production abroad, grew by 5.9% to 9,726 tons due to brisk production of disposable diapers.
Wetlaid nonwovens production continued to be strong with a 13.7% growth to 3,048 tons.
Nonwoven fabric production during January-July 2017 remained practically the same as the year before at 197,920 tons.