China's huge automotive market presents opportunities for nonwovens producers at China International Nonwovens Expo

China is undisputed the world’s front-runner in the global car market, leading the way in both production and sales. 

While new car sales in China dropped for the first time last year since 1992, production still reached 27.8 million vehicles in 2018, including 23.5 million passenger cars and 4.3 million commercial vehicles. While these numbers were down slightly year-on-year, the opportunities for global textile producers are still unrivalled given the overall size of the market.

At this year’s biennial China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil), which runs from 3 – 5 June in Shanghai, a number of leading automobile brands, and textile suppliers to these companies, are expected to be sourcing at the fair. Previous buyers have included Autoliv, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Lear Corporation, Lydall, Toyota Boshoku, Volkswagen, Wangbo Co Ltd and more, according to organisers at Messe Frankfurt's Hong Kong office.

This edition, buyers can source from a range of automotive nonwovens suppliers. This includes Shanghai Shenda, one of the country’s largest producer of automotive textiles, who will group together a number of automotive interior suppliers.   The CINE 2019 fair will take place in a new venue, the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, located conveniently between Hongqiao airport and downtown Shanghai.

China's strong automotive market growth is evident also in in new energy vehicle (NEV) sales, as well as exports of all vehicle types.  NEV production totalled 1.27 million units last year, a staggering 60% increase, while sales grew by nearly 62%.  More e-vehicles are sold in China than rest of the world combined, while the government recently set a target of selling 7 million e-vehicles by 2025, ensuring growth in this sector will remain robust for some time. Exports of all vehicle types in 2018 did not grow as fast as NEVs, but the 1.04 million vehicles produced for overseas markets last year still represented growth of 16.8%.*

* Sources: China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China Industry Information Network, MarkLines, Nonwovens Industry.

The China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil) is organised by the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA); the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry (INDA); and Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd.

Photos from Messe Frankfurt (HK) taken at CINE 2017.