Medical masks are covered by healthy competition

The fall in demand for personal protective equipment, including medical masks, is forcing some manufacturers of materials for such products to think about exiting this business. Thus, Netkanika may be sold to Polymatiz, which is associated with the Komitex group. Companies that ramped up production of disposable medical products during COVID-19 are now having a difficult time, according to experts, due to the need to reconfigure production for other markets.

In November 2023, the Federal Antimonopoly Service granted the request of the nonwoven materials manufacturer Polymatiz from Tatarstan to acquire 99.99% in Netkanika, according to the department’s materials. Both of these companies produce, in particular, spunbond and meltblown – materials used, among other things, in medicine, construction, and the automotive industry. Netkanika declined to comment; Polymatiz did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Until April 2023, Polymatiz belonged to Nizhnekamskneftekhim, a structure of SIBUR. Then the enterprise was bought by Mikhail Pshennikov’s Business Service Center, which was associated with the Syktyvkar manufacturer of nonwoven materials Komitex.

The market for nonwoven materials is now actively developing—the production of technical textiles used in the medical, furniture, automotive, and construction industries depends on polymer manufacturers, says Vladimir Kotov, president of the Association of Developers, Manufacturers and Suppliers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Synthetic materials, including those used for the production of medical masks, have proven to be in great demand during the pandemic. According to BusinesStat, in 2020, sales of these materials in Russia increased by 23.4%, to 7.02 billion square meters. m, in 2021 – by 16.5%, to 8.17 billion sq. m.

Against this background, many manufacturers of nonwoven materials tried to increase their capacity, adds Mr. Kotov. Netkanika did the same, receiving two loans of 400 million rubles to create a new line for the production of personal protective equipment, medical clothing and hygiene products, launched in Moscow in January 2023. from the Industrial Development Fund and 300 million rubles. from the capital’s Industry and Entrepreneurship Support Fund.

After the decline in the incidence of COVID-19, the demand for PPE, including masks, expectedly decreased. According to the Check Index (part of the OFD Platform), in September-November 2023, the number of purchases of disposable respirators decreased by 14% year-on-year and by 81% compared to the same period in 2021. After the lifting of pandemic restrictions, regular buyers of these products remain, as a rule, the most vulnerable groups of consumers due to health conditions and those who most often come into contact with a large number of people, analysts note.

According to Vladimir Kotov, now many manufacturers, including Netkanika, have a surplus of capacity for the production of materials used in the manufacture of medical devices. General Director of the Respiratory Complex Vladimir Astakhov says that there are currently enough suppliers of nonwoven materials for respirators on the market.

Companies that relied on a sharp surge in demand for disposable medical products during the pandemic are now experiencing difficulties due to the need to reconfigure product production for other markets, which has not been easy, Mr. Kotov points out. “Netkanika,” according to him, may be of interest to market players as a processor of raw materials for integration into a vertically integrated holding and, accordingly, increasing the profitability of the entire chain of polymer processing.

Polina Gritsenko