China's textile and apparel exports reach new heights

Encouraged and driven by the country's active and effective prevention and control measures and policies to stabilize the economy and exports, in the past year, China's textile and apparel industry has overcome many difficulties, strengthened the upstream and downstream coordination of the industrial chain and supply chain, and seized rare overseas orders. Window and order return opportunities, insist on making progress while maintaining stability and continue to promote the stability and improvement of textile and apparel exports. In 2021, China's textile and apparel exports will grow beyond expectations, with the cumulative export volume exceeding US$300 billion for the first time, a record high; the increase in exports has exceeded US$20 billion for two consecutive years, and the export growth rate has reached 9% for two consecutive years, realizing the realization of textile and apparel foreign trade" The 14th Five-Year" period was a good start. In 2022, difficulties such as high raw material prices, rising freight costs, and rising labor costs have not been alleviated, and China's textile and apparel exports are facing many uncertainties. Zhu Yuxing, deputy director of the Information Department of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, believes that at present, if the epidemic situation does not turn significantly, it is expected that China's textile and apparel exports may experience negative growth in the first quarter under a high base effect, and then with the implementation of domestic favorable policies and the role of the RCEP agreement It appears that the export situation will gradually improve.

The data shows that in 2021, the import and export trade volume of textiles and clothing will be 351.18 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 9.8%, with an average growth of 8.9% in the two years, of which exports will be 322.71 billion US dollars, an increase of 9%, and an average increase of 9% in the two years; imports will be 28.47 billion US dollars, An increase of 20.5%, an average increase of 7.5% in the two years; the cumulative trade surplus was 294.24 billion US dollars, an increase of 8%, an average increase of 9.2% in the two years.

The export of intermediate goods grows rapidly

The strong demand for household consumer goods has driven the rapid growth of China's textile and apparel exports to developed countries in Europe and the United States and intermediate products to developing regions. Epidemic prevention and control and isolation have initiated the global "home model". Consumers spend more time at home, and service consumption is forced to reduce. More spending is spent on "home-based" consumer goods such as furniture, clothing and toys, computers and electronic products. "From the perspective of the export market of textiles and clothing, developed countries such as Europe and the United States are still the most important consumers, and the United States and the European Union are still the largest consumer goods markets for China's textiles and clothing." Zhu Yuxing said. Data show that in 2021, China's textile and apparel exports to the United States will be 58.09 billion US dollars, an increase of 5%. Among them, the export of home textiles for major commodities will increase by 32%, and the knitted clothing will increase by 39.1%, of which knitted clothing suitable for home use will increase by nearly 60%. China's textile and apparel exports to the EU amounted to US$48.5 billion, down 10%. Home textiles, a major commodity, increased by 27%, knitted and woven clothing increased by 20.4%, of which knitted clothing increased by nearly 40%. China's textile and apparel exports to Japan were US$20.39 billion, down 6.9%, of which home textile exports increased by 9.7%, knitted garments increased by 7.5%, of which knitted garments increased by 14.5%.

The expansion of demand for downstream products has led to a surge in the import of textile intermediate products by developing countries such as ASEAN. In 2021, China's textile and apparel exports to ASEAN will be US$49.66 billion, an increase of 25%, of which the total number of commodity yarn fabrics will increase by 28.3%. It is ahead of the previous year and pre-pandemic levels.

After the normalization of global epidemic prevention and control, China's exports of textile and clothing epidemic prevention products have gradually declined. In 2021, the proportion of China's cumulative exports of medical masks and protective clothing to total exports will drop to 5%, and the cumulative export value will drop by 75.5%. Yarn, fabrics, home textiles and knitted garments together accounted for 76% of the total export value, and the export value increased by 43.6%, 34.4%, 27.9% and 26.3% respectively. Excluding epidemic prevention products, the export of textiles and clothing increased by 33.4%, of which textiles increased by 32.6% and clothing increased by 34.1%.

Last year, the market share of China's textile and apparel products in developed countries fell compared to 2020. Affected by the epidemic in 2020, with the support of China's strong industrial chain and supply chain, the import of major developed countries from China has soared, and the share of Chinese textile and apparel products in the EU, the United States and Japan markets has rebounded sharply that year. "In 2021, under the normalization of the epidemic, the procurement model of developed countries will return to 'China + Vietnam + other low-cost Asian countries', and the proportion of ASEAN and other places will rebound from 2020, especially Bangladesh's share of clothing imports in the United States and Japan The share of China's textile and apparel products has reached a new high. In 2021, the share of China's textile and apparel products will be lower than that in 2020, but the market share in the EU and Japan is still higher than the level in 2019 before the epidemic."

Imports show steady growth

Driven by the recovery of production and exports, the expansion of domestic demand and the appreciation of the RMB, the import of textiles and clothing will show a steady growth throughout the year in 2021. The data shows that all the months of the year have achieved an increase of more than 10%, with a cumulative increase of 20.5% throughout the year, and the growth rate has exceeded that of exports.

The expansion of finished apparel exports led to a combined 29% increase in the import of textile intermediates, yarns and fabrics. Due to the control of the epidemic, domestic consumers are restricted from leaving the country, and the consumer demand for foreign medium and high-end clothing and apparel has shifted to imported purchases. Last year, the import of knitted and woven clothing increased by 29.3%, and the increase of fur leather clothing and clothing accessories was as high as 60% and 60%. 43%.

Import growth was also driven by a combination of quantitative expansion and price increases. Last year, the import volume of yarn and needle woven garments increased by 10.5% and 4.6% respectively, the import volume of fabrics was flat, and the average import price of the three types of products increased by 22.5%, 23.5% and 16.7% respectively, which shows the pulling effect of price. more obvious.