Textile And Garment Export Is Expected To Achieve Positive Growth

Since the beginning of this year, in the face of severe challenges to foreign trade caused by the new epidemic, the demand for conventional consumption of textile and clothing in the world has dropped precipitously, and the demand for epidemic prevention materials has increased sharply, which has a great impact on the export structure and trend of China's textile and clothing. Facing the uncertainty brought by the global economic recession and the increasingly complex external environment, international textile and clothing consumption and circulation are undergoing subversive changes. Industry insiders said that under the epidemic situation, textile and garment enterprises should drive the domestic and international dual cycle with "digital trade + platform economy" to jointly promote the quality, efficiency, transformation and upgrading of foreign trade.

Cao Jiachang, President of China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, said at the "2020 8th China and Asia Textile International Forum" held in Shanghai recently, the export of masks and protective clothing has increased rapidly, which has driven the overall export growth of textile and clothing. However, the international market is sluggish, the cancellation and postponement of orders for conventional textile and clothing products are serious, and the recovery of new orders is slow. The future is not expected Lucidity. For a period of time to come, textile and clothing exports other than epidemic prevention materials will still face the adverse situation of declining demand and lack of orders.

Since the second quarter of this year, China's textile and clothing exports have gradually recovered from the trough. Driven by the export of anti epidemic materials such as masks, from January to August, China's textile and clothing exports totaled US $187.41 billion, an increase of 8.1%, of which textile exports were US $104.8 billion, an increase of 33.4%; and clothing exports were US $82.61 billion, a decrease of 12.9%.

The export of epidemic prevention materials such as masks and protective clothing increased significantly. According to Cao Jiachang, China exported 151.5 billion masks and 1.4 billion protective clothing from March 15 to September 6, with an average daily export of about 1 billion masks, which strongly supported the global epidemic prevention and control. In the first seven months of this year, China's total exports of masks and protective clothing were nearly 40 billion US dollars and 7 billion US dollars, respectively, up 10 times over the same period last year. In addition, the export of non-woven fabrics increased by 18%, and the export of plastic and rubber clothing increased by 118%.

The export of conventional products other than epidemic prevention materials dropped sharply. From the perspective of major categories of commodities, the decline was mostly in the range of 25% - 30%. In the first seven months of this year, China's yarn exports fell by 31%, fabric exports by 27%, home textiles exports by 18%, knitwear exports by 25%, and cotton garments exports by 31%.

Driven by the export of masks, exports to developed countries have generally increased. "More than 80% of China's anti epidemic textiles such as masks are exported to developed countries such as Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, boosting the overall export growth of these markets." Cao said. In the first seven months of this year, China's textile and garment exports to the European Union, the United States and Japan increased by 40%, 10% and 13%, respectively, while exports to emerging markets such as ASEAN, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America decreased by 5%, 7%, 12% and 11% respectively.

Excluding masks, non-woven fabrics and other epidemic prevention related products, the export of China's conventional textile and clothing products is closely related to the epidemic situation in the target market, showing a three-tier ladder distribution. In the first seven months of this year, China's exports to the United States, Latin American countries and Russia fell by about 30%, to the European Union, ASEAN, Africa and the Middle East by about 20%, and to Japan and South Korea by about 10%.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the export of textile and garment processing trade has suffered the biggest impact, and the export of cross-border e-commerce and other trade modes has increased rapidly. In the first seven months, China's textile and clothing general trade exports increased by 9%, processing trade exports decreased by 31%, and cross-border e-commerce exports increased by 12%. Cao Jiachang pointed out that the sharp decline in processing trade exports was mainly due to the interruption of foreign supply chain and the obstruction of imported raw materials caused by the epidemic. The epidemic has further promoted the vigorous development of online transactions, and led to the growth of export of emerging trade modes including cross-border e-commerce.

According to Cao Jiachang, from the perspective of the whole year's situation, the export of anti epidemic materials such as masks will continue to drive the growth of textile export in the whole year. Although the export growth rate drops from the peak of the epidemic situation, the new demand will still maintain a certain scale. The slowdown of global economic growth, the weakening of personnel mobility and the increase of unemployment rate will fundamentally restrain the global demand for consumer goods such as clothing and home textiles, especially clothing, which is the "optional consumer goods" that has been hit the most. Affected by the epidemic situation, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh and other countries have insufficient operating rates, and their demand for and dependence on Chinese yarn and fabric products have also greatly weakened.

At present, the epidemic situation is still spreading all over the world, and the demand for international trade has shrunk sharply. The development of China's textile and garment trade is facing a more complex and severe situation. How to break through under the epidemic situation? How to cultivate a new mode of foreign trade development? In this regard, Jiang Wei, general manager of Jiangsu Zhongfu focus Cross Border Trade Service Co., Ltd., shared the prospect of the new export channel and digital trade port for SMT small and micro enterprises at the high quality development round table forum of China (Changshu) garment trade recently. As the achievement of Changshu garment market purchasing trade national pilot unit in the past four years, the only digital service platform based on the connotation of market procurement trade has been approved among 14 pilot units nationwide. The platform has successfully solved the difficulties of small and micro enterprises in export, foreign exchange collection and practical operation. At present, the city CAITONG platform has launched four characteristic service products: Green customs clearance, logistics jurisdiction, independent foreign exchange collection and export credit insurance. Since this year, the city's CAITONG platform has achieved an export performance of US $610 million, with exports of more than 7000 TEUs, serving more than 900 enterprises distributed in the Yangtze River Delta, Tianjin, Beijing and Hebei, and the Pearl River Delta.

During the high-quality development round table forum of China (Changshu) garment trade, the "Yangtze River Delta textile and garment double cycle development alliance" jointly sponsored by the textile chamber of Commerce, Changshu garment city and Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui Import and export chambers of Commerce was officially launched. Relying on the rich network of textile chamber of commerce at home and abroad and abundant textile and garment industry resources in the Yangtze River Delta, the alliance aims to promote and promote the dual circulation of domestic and foreign trade, domestic and foreign market development, export to domestic sales, and internationalization of domestic sales, so as to enable the integration of domestic and foreign trade of textile and garment industry in the Yangtze River Delta, and create a domestic and international first-class textile and garment industry in the Yangtze River Delta Integrated platform.