09.11.23
Tokyo, Japan
www.mitsui-chemicals.com
2022 Nonwovens Sales: $157 million
Key Personnel
Kazuya Kusano, general manager, nonwoven fabric division
Plants
Japan, Thailand
Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, needlepunch, thermal
Brands
Tafnel, Synetx, Syntex Nano, Airyfa
Major Markets
Coverstock, geotextiles, oil absorbing materials, air filters, wipes, agricultural materials, household materials
In February 2023, Mitsui Chemicals and fellow leader in the Japanese nonwovens industry Asahi Kasei, announced a plan to form a new integrated company combining their nonwovens businesses with a tentative start date of October 2, 2023. This plan will be carried out through a corporation-type demerger enabling the establishment of the new integrated company pending the approval of authorities in Japan and Thailand, where the two companies have operations.
Under the proposed plan, all of Mitsui Chemicals’ nonwovens businesses with the exception of its SWP fibrillated polyolefin fiber will be integrated with Asahi Kasei’s spunbond and cartridge filter business. The new company will be known as Mitsui Chemicals Asahi Life Materials Co. and it will be based in Tokyo, Japan. Mitsui will own slightly more than 60% of the company while Asahi Kasei will hold the remaining shares. Sales are estimated at ¥48.3 billion or about $370 million annually.
The Japanese sites for the company will include Mitsui’s Sunrex subsidiary in Mie, Japan as well as its Nogoya Works plant in Aichi. Meanwhile, Asahi Kasei’s plant in Moriyama will provide outsourced production. Overseas sites including both companies’ Thailand operations, will continue to carry out production and sales as subsidiaries of the integrated company. Asahi Kasei’s spunbond operation in Moriyama will be merged into the company by way of an absorption-type merger at a later date.
The main reason for the integration has been cited as intensifying competition in Asia, particularly among polypropylene spunbond manufacturers. The larger scale created by the merger of the two companies, which will produce 132,000 tons of polypropylene spunbond nonwovens per year initially, will improve the companies’ position within Asia, particularly in the Chinese diaper market where oversupply has been caused by decreasing birth rates. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), enacted in January 2022, and the elimination of tariffs in East Asia has also contributed to increased competition, and escalating raw material prices have made achieving profitability more difficult.
Mitsui Chemicals currently makes 85,000 tons of spunbond nonwovens at sites in Japan and Thailand. In 2021, the company exited the Chinese market through the sale of its subsidiary there to a Chinese company. The company also makes meltblown nonwovens
www.mitsui-chemicals.com
2022 Nonwovens Sales: $157 million
Key Personnel
Kazuya Kusano, general manager, nonwoven fabric division
Plants
Japan, Thailand
Processes
Spunbond, meltblown, needlepunch, thermal
Brands
Tafnel, Synetx, Syntex Nano, Airyfa
Major Markets
Coverstock, geotextiles, oil absorbing materials, air filters, wipes, agricultural materials, household materials
In February 2023, Mitsui Chemicals and fellow leader in the Japanese nonwovens industry Asahi Kasei, announced a plan to form a new integrated company combining their nonwovens businesses with a tentative start date of October 2, 2023. This plan will be carried out through a corporation-type demerger enabling the establishment of the new integrated company pending the approval of authorities in Japan and Thailand, where the two companies have operations.
Under the proposed plan, all of Mitsui Chemicals’ nonwovens businesses with the exception of its SWP fibrillated polyolefin fiber will be integrated with Asahi Kasei’s spunbond and cartridge filter business. The new company will be known as Mitsui Chemicals Asahi Life Materials Co. and it will be based in Tokyo, Japan. Mitsui will own slightly more than 60% of the company while Asahi Kasei will hold the remaining shares. Sales are estimated at ¥48.3 billion or about $370 million annually.
The Japanese sites for the company will include Mitsui’s Sunrex subsidiary in Mie, Japan as well as its Nogoya Works plant in Aichi. Meanwhile, Asahi Kasei’s plant in Moriyama will provide outsourced production. Overseas sites including both companies’ Thailand operations, will continue to carry out production and sales as subsidiaries of the integrated company. Asahi Kasei’s spunbond operation in Moriyama will be merged into the company by way of an absorption-type merger at a later date.
The main reason for the integration has been cited as intensifying competition in Asia, particularly among polypropylene spunbond manufacturers. The larger scale created by the merger of the two companies, which will produce 132,000 tons of polypropylene spunbond nonwovens per year initially, will improve the companies’ position within Asia, particularly in the Chinese diaper market where oversupply has been caused by decreasing birth rates. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), enacted in January 2022, and the elimination of tariffs in East Asia has also contributed to increased competition, and escalating raw material prices have made achieving profitability more difficult.
Mitsui Chemicals currently makes 85,000 tons of spunbond nonwovens at sites in Japan and Thailand. In 2021, the company exited the Chinese market through the sale of its subsidiary there to a Chinese company. The company also makes meltblown nonwovens
