INDA, the Cary, North Carolina-based nonwovens association, has just published its North American Nonwoven Materials Annual Study 2022.

It reveals that North American nonwovens capacity continues to increase, with investments being made across all processes and for a variety of end-uses. The industry’s nameplate capacity utilisation has also increased for the fifth consecutive year.

In 2022, the capacity of nonwovens in North America reached 5.565 million tons, an increase from the previous year of 2.4% – net growth of 128,700 tons – and an improvement over the previous year’s growth rate of 1.8%.

North American imports in tonnage decreased by 24.3% in 2022 and exports fell 16.3% due to market stabilisation after Covid-19. Nonwoven production tends to stay within the region in which it is produced, so the net trade balance – imports minus exports – accounted for less than 5.5% of the region’s capacity.

“2022 was a period of economic adjustment and stabilisation,” says Mark Snider, INDA’s chief market and industry analyst. “We’re seeing a controlled and consistent transition back to pre-pandemic levels of growth.”

“An element of INDA’s mission is to provide credible statistics to the nonwovens and engineered materials industry,” adds INDA president Tony Fragnito. “Our objective is to continually improve the quality of data and industry information. We feel the industry will greatly benefit from this in-depth resource for strategic planning and investment purposes.”

Based on actual surveys and interviews with producers, the study tracks machine additions, closures and productivity improvements. As the benchmark for capacity and production information for North America, it is the only publication that provides an estimate of operating rates, based on nameplate machine capacity.

The detailed study is available for purchase, with INDA members receiving a discount.

www.inda.org