Increasing Turkish demand for disposable hygiene products
According to the newest and commercially available issue of Technical Textile Markets from Textiles Intelligence (GB) Turkey has actually 65 producers of nonwovens, whereas in 2000 only 25 companies were engaged in this field and the country is providing new opportunities for investors since the demand is for disposable hygiene products is growing
From 2006 to 2011 Turkish nonwovens production almost doubled from 89000 tons to 167000 t and the 2010 production of baby diapers for domestic market use amounted to an estimated 4 billion and the same figure was produced for exporting at low cost, mainly to East European countries, Iran, Iraq, North African countries and Syria. The total Turkish production accounted for around 6 % of the world consumption of diapers.
Turkey has around 4.1 million infants under the age of three and the penetration of the market for baby diapers is only 66 % and market penetration is significantly lower in a number of neighbouring countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Lately, Turkey’s diaper manufacturers became a target for foreign investors.
Other strong sectors offer also a growth potential, e.g. sanitary napkins. There are 18 million Turkish females between the ages of 15 to 45 and market penetrations runs around 52 %. Since Turkey has a relatively small elderly population adult incontinence products have not yet captured a significant market but KimberlyClark group recently launched its Depend products in Turkey, and this move was certainly based upon findings that there is an existing growing demand for such products.
Converted nonwoven products are exported significantly from Turkey to the rapidly growing Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. MENA is not the only region of interest for Turkish manufacturing, because within a radius of just 2000 miles, Turkey has access to markets in most of Europe, the MENA region and the region of Central Asia as well as parts of Russia with a total of 1.5 billion people.