A summary of the key statistics from the EDANA Statistics Report on Nonwovens Production and Deliveries for 2022 was published by EDANA, the international organisation for the nonwovens industry and allied sectors. Production in Greater Europe, which includes Western and Eastern European nations, Turkey, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, is back on track after a surge brought on by the extraordinary rise in demand for nonwovens materials in 2020 and 2021 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (+9.3% in 2020–2021). Despite the economic and energy crises, the war in Europe, and the figures being lower than during COVID-19, they have returned to their pre-pandemic levels. Compared to data from 2019, the volume of nonwovens produced in Greater Europe increased by 3.3% in 2022, reaching3,017,085 tonnes, and by 9.1% in surface area resulting in 85.8 billion square metres of nonwovens being manufactured.
EDANA’s Market Analysis and Economic Affairs Director, Jacques Prigneaux said that this conclusion can be refined according to the different production processes, saying that some processes, such as drylaid-hydroentangled and air-through bonding, recorded an even higher output in 2022 than in 2021. Prigneaux stated: “While, the production of other fiber-based materials, including drylaid, wetlaid, and airlaid technologies, were below the levels observed three years earlier. The production of spunmelt nonwovens was down again after peaking in 2021, but the 2022 output was still 8.1% over its 2019 level.”