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Blast at Japanese plant may lead to global shortage of diapers

02 Oct '12

1 min read

A blast that occurred last week at Nippon Shokubai's factory in Japan's Himeji city may trigger a shortage of disposable diapers across the world.

It is because the Japanese company produces about 320,000 tons of super-absorbent polymers (SAP), accounting for about one-fifth of the global share.

SAP is widely used in making nappies.

In recent times, the demand for SAP has grown enormously, especially due to growing demand for nappies in China.

The Nippon Shokubai's Himeji plant was operating at full capacity and the company had planned to further expand its production capacity.

The shutdown of Himeji plant after the blast means there will now be an additional pressure on other companies that produce SAP to meet the shortfall.

However, other SAP producing companies are also reported to be operating at full capacity, leaving very little room for their capacity expansion.

Hence, any extended delayed in the Himeji plant resuming normal production is likely to lead to a shortage of disposable diapers.

Diapers that use SAP have the ability to absorb an infant's waste up to 50 times their own weight in liquid.

Technical Textiles News Desk - India