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South Africa is the second largest market in Africa and the largest market in sub-Saharan Africa. At present, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark, the first and second largest companies in the sanitary products industry, are already operating in South Africa. The third largest player is National Pride, which produces the Cuddlers and National Pride diaper brand.

It is no wonder that PFNonwovens, a spunmelt nonwovens manufacturer in 2017, chose to build a factory in Cape Town, South Africa, at a cost of about $0.1 billion. The plant is PFNonwovens's first in sub-Saharan Africa and its second on the continent. The company is already operating in Egypt.

In addition to PFNonwovens,Spunchem also has local production capacity in South Africa. Although Spunchem has been in the South African market for the past two decades, it has traditionally focused on the industrial application of nonwovens. After realizing the growth of the hygiene products market, Spunchem increased its production capacity for hygiene products applications in 2018 and began to cooperate with leading local baby diaper manufacturers. Spunchem is also one of the few meltblown nonwovens suppliers that can supply mask materials to the local market during the new crown epidemic.

Freudenberg Performance Materials (Codborg Performance Materials) has two sales offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg, but no local manufacturing capacity. Paul Hartmann is also very active in the supply of nonwovens for the medical and hygiene products market, but also has no local capacity. Another global player in the South African nonwovens market is the Fibertex Nonwovens located near Durban, whose main segments are automotive, bedding, filtration, furniture and geotextiles.

MoliCare is a well-known brand in the adult incontinence segment of the South African market, selling its products through pharmacies, modern retail and online channels. V & G Personal Products the Llets, Nina Femme and Eva brands.

After selling the National Pride, Ebrahim Kara set up another hygiene company a few years later called Infinity Care, which makes baby diapers, adult incontinence and wipes. Other notable players in the South African hygiene products market are Cleopatra Products in Durban and L'il Masters in Johannesburg. These two family-owned companies, with their very strong quality control departments, occupy the private label space in the South African hygiene products market.

Other important players in the South African market include NSP Unsgaard, a Cape Town-based company that is part of the Lion Match Company. NSP is Unsgaard a leader in the pad market and also owns a cost-effective sanitary pad brand called Comfitex, which has been expanding its market share.

In recent years, the NSP Unsgaard has been increasing manufacturing capacity, including by investing 20 million rand in 2018 to increase capacity by 55%, as part of the 0.1 billion rand investment plan that began in 2016. According to Retail Brief Africa, the market for sanitary pads in South Africa is growing at a rate of 9-10% per year. The NSP Unsgaard is also building export capacity in the Southern African Community (SADC) region.

Twinsaver Group owns brands for adult incontinence and baby diapers as well as brands for wet wipes. Through the acquisition, Twinsaver Group has strengthened its professional capabilities in the field of wet wipes and launched a variety of wet wipes products, including wash-free wipes, hygiene care wipes and various other wet wipes products, consolidating its position in this field.

L'il Masters收购Infinity Care

Interestingly, through the recent acquisition of Infinity Care,L'il Masters has 7 production lines for baby diapers, 1 production line for adult diapers, 1 production line for baby pants, 1 production line for sanitary napkins and 4 production lines for wet wipes, distributed in three factories, two of which are in Johannesburg and one in Durban.

According to the company's CEO Preyesh Bhawan, they plan to buy two more baby diaper lines in 2022. With more than a decade of experience and these actions, the family-owned company became South Africa's largest homegrown hygiene products manufacturer, ranking third behind Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark.

L'il's Masters private label customers include Jet, Clicks, Dischem and Massmart Group. Each brand has different characteristics and key metrics. The CEO of L'il Masters said that these diapers are of high quality and can easily be compared with international brands. The company's export markets include Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Madagascar.

The company has a strong sustainability plan, such as the installation of 700 solar panels at its new headquarters, thus becoming the only diaper manufacturer with an energy-efficient facility up to this level and providing its plant in South Africa with the option of harnessing sustainable energy. Other sustainability projects include water conservation, paperless invoicing and water cooling systems. Waste disposal and dust removal devices are also installed in the building, and plastic and cardboard waste is collected for recycling. These measures can reduce the impact on the environment.

Industry challenges

The sanitary products market in South Africa has recently faced challenges. Some have been linked to the damage caused to the environment by the plastic component when it flows into South Africa's rivers and oceans. More pressure is coming to this industry. Environmental lobbies and communities are calling for solutions to this problem, and they are putting pressure on the Department of Environmental Affairs and municipalities to hold brand owners and manufacturers accountable for pollution caused by used diapers and sanitary pads in their communities, water systems, beaches and other environments.

This challenge is also common in other parts of the continent, where used diapers are often found to clog urban drainage systems, causing urban drainage difficulties during the rainy season. To make matters worse, all parts of South Africa are unable to cope with the challenges posed by urbanization. Municipal budgets are under pressure and household waste is not being collected regularly, leading to protests from communities that are annoyed by waste, including old diapers and feminine hygiene products. These issues all blur the line between brand owners and municipal services.

There is not enough trust between brand owners and manufacturers, large global brands and smaller family businesses to work together to address the challenges they face. As an industry, they have tried many times to come together, but so far without success. Interestingly, other industries such as food and beverage have successfully joined forces with other brand owners and other stakeholders (e. g. communities, retailers, etc.) to form several organizations focused on plastic recovery and recycling, such as PET recycling company Petco, Polyco, SA Plastics Pact and several others, it brings together recyclers, retailers, brand owners, processors, government agencies, raw material producers, academics and consumers. Even South Africa's glass industry has made good progress, and the sanitary products industry can learn from these experiences.

The impact of the new crown

Freight rates have risen sharply, in some cases more than doubling, as a result of the impact of the new crown epidemic on global container stocks and supplies and shipping routes. This means that the cost of imported raw materials for sanitary products has risen sharply.

Nonwovens suppliers with local capacity like Spunchem have become stronger. Fortunately for them, they have the support of the government. The government, one of the biggest buyers of masks, insists in the procurement process that suppliers must prove that their raw materials are locally supplied. This also emphasizes the need for localized supply of non-woven raw materials in the sanitary products industry.

To that end, PFNonwovens is currently expanding its manufacturing facility in Cape Town, investing an additional $40 million. As the first company to invest in the latest Reicofil R5 production line in South Africa, this investment reinforces its leading position. The company said the new investment gives them "the ability to meet the growing demand for high-value and specialty products in the local market, including softness, comfort and sustainability." Cape Town was chosen because of its world-class infrastructure and unobstructed access to the rest of the continent.

Source: Jung-International Nonwoven Industry Business