Russia's technical textiles and industrial nonwovens industry is witnessing growth on the back of a number of new investment projects that were announced in recent months. For example, the Balashov textile mill (Baltex), one of Russia’s leading producers of technical textiles and nonwovens, is investing $200 million for expansion of the production of polyamide fibres and fabrics over the next few years.

While, the company is experiencing a shortage of raw materials, preventing it from further increasing its production, commissioning of a new factory is expected to partially solve this problem. Currently around 30 per cent of its production is fully utilized and this figure is expected to significantly increase in the coming years due to increase in production of technical textiles by 2017-2018.

Other leading Russian producers of technical textiles and nonwovens like Kuibyshevazot, Kurskhimvolokno and BTK Group, have also announced their expansion plans in Russia. The increase in production of technical textiles is part of the ambitious plans of the Russian government. It aims to increase the share of domestically made technical textiles to 80 per cent by 2020. At present, the Russian technical textiles market is estimated at US$2 billion, of which the share of domestic production hovers around just15 to 17 per cent. anstepan.rusmarket.com