Toray Industries, Inc. will start production of polypropylene spunbonded nonwoven fabrics (PPSB) for use in sanitary products in India.
For the purpose of expanding business in the Indian domestic market throughout the group, approximately 350,000 square meters of land have been acquired, and as the first step, an 18,000-ton/year production line will be introduced with the start of production scheduled for April 2020. With the new plant, Toray aims at securing sharply growing domestic demand.
Also to be utilized as important bases for its advanced material business, Toray has plans to establish bases for nylon and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resin compound.
The land was acquired in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, and infrastructure development will be undertaken. About 15 billion Japanese yen will be invested in this project. Site preparation work is said to be almost completed, and the construction of buildings and the PPSB plant is to begin shortly.
The largest application for PPSB is sanitary products such as disposable diapers. Currently, demand in the Indian domestic market is estimated at 20,000 tons, which is expected to grow at a sharp rate of 16% per year and double to 40,000 tons by 2020.
According to a Toray official, the company intends to secure about half of the demand in the Indian market. Its customers including world-leading sanitary product manufacturers have advanced their business to India, and Toray already holds a share of the market as it is supplying its products on an export basis. Endeavors will be made to deepen and strengthen business with customers by replacing exports with locally produced products.
India’s per-capita GDP is slightly over US$1,700, which is still below the US$3,000 level where the market for disposable diapers for babies is considered to expand with widespread use. The GDP is forecast to reach about US$2,400 in 2020 with the Indian economy growing by 6% annually up to 2030. Production will mainly be high-quality volume-zone items, and while taking market trends into consideration, plans for further investments, such as for strengthening production of value-added products, will also be examined.