According to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the nation’s production of nonwoven fabrics in January 2017 decreased by 5.0% compared to the same month of last year to 26,309 tons, thus decreasing for the seventh consecutive month.
Production increased for needlepunched (up 2.4% to 5,882 tons), spunlaced (up 6.6% to 3,477 tons) and wet-laid nonwovens (up 0.8% to 2,510 tons), but decreased for chemicalbonded (down 2.8% to 1,525 tons), thermalbonded (down 16.9% to 2,758 tons) and spunbonded/meltblown (down 11.4% to 8,260 tons).