INDA statistics for the Industrial Wipes Market

Rory Holmes, President of INDA, provided the following INDA statistics for 2011:

• ·         Wipes accounted for 292,000 tonnes or 4.7 billion m² of the 764,000 tonne or 23.3 bn m² Limited-Life (disposables) nonwoven market.
• ·         38% (111,000 tonnes) of these were industrial or institutional wipes, the remainder being consumer wipes.
• ·         The roll-goods value of the industrials was $289 million compared with $465 million for the consumer wipes.
• ·         Within the Industrial Wipes sector, 39% of the total area was for healthcare and medical use, 36% for general industrial use, 13% food service and 12% industrial specialty.  This equated to 45%, 32%, 12% and 11% of the tonnages of the respective markets.
• ·         Industrial specialty wipes comprised 85 million m² for electronic cleanrooms, 77 million m² for pharmaceutical cleanrooms, 26 million m² for auto/aero surface preparation and 26 million m² for printing machine wipes.
• ·         At retail, industrial/institutional wipes were worth $1.3 bn compared with $4.1 bn for consumer wipes.
• ·         $0.515 bn were Industrial, $0.4bn were Medical, $0.183bn were Specialty and  $0.140bn were Food service.
• ·         If non-disposable cloth wipes are added to the industrial/institutional sector the total wipes value rises to $2.65bn at retail.
• ·         General Industrial accounted for 59% of this $2.65 bn, with Healthcare at 18%, Food Service at 17% and Specialty at 6%.
• ·         All Healthcare and Specialty industrial wipes were disposables but only 30% of the total Food Service and General Industrial wipes  were disposable.
• ·         The non-disposables were shop-towels and rags, the latter only being used in Industry where they took 20% of the market.
• ·         730 million shop towels were imported in 2010.  These were worth $25million, weighed 10,000 tonnes and cost between 10c and 20c each depending on size (13”x14” or 18” square)
• ·         74% of these imports were from Pakistan, with India, Bangladesh and Egypt sharing most of the remainder.  Only 1% came from China.
•           While the rented show towels apparently cost between 5 and 15c per use (compared with 16c for the average nonwoven wipe) there were hidden costs associated with disposal, replacement and delivery which raised their real costs to 18-28c per use.

(From INDA's World of Wipes Conference Chicago, June 2012)