News Analysis: What Is The Geometry Of China'S Textile And Garment Industry?

According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs on 10 th, in the first half of this year, China exported 81 billion 680 million US dollars in textile and clothing, down 11% from the same period last year.

The industry believes that this initially shows the impact of China's textile and garment industry on the relocation of ASEAN and other neighboring countries (regions).

Customs data show that in the first half of this year, China's clothing and accessories exports amounted to US $49 billion 960 million, an increase of 3.4%, the growth rate dropped 18.3 percentage points year-on-year, textile yarn, fabrics and products exports 31 billion 720 million US dollars, an increase of 26.8%, the growth rate increased 17 percentage points year-on-year.

According to the insiders, the export growth of textile yarns, fabrics and products is obviously faster than that of garment exports, and the growth rate of textile and clothing exports reflects that the influence of China's garment processing exits has been very obvious.

An analysis released recently by the General Administration of Customs said that in recent years, India, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Bangladesh and other countries all took the textile and garment industry as an important supporting industry and had a stronger labor cost advantage. China, especially Guangdong textile enterprises, accelerated their relocation. At present, there are more than 400 Chinese textile enterprises investing in factories in Kampuchea, and nearly 100 in Bangladesh.

In the first half of May this year, China's exports to ASEAN increased by 29.3%, of which 2 billion 920 million of textile yarn, fabrics and products grew by 44.6%, while clothing and accessories were 1 billion 200 million dollars, an increase of only 2.8%.

According to the analysis, the impact of the US subprime mortgage crisis is still continuing. The US dollar economy is sluggish and demand for textile and clothing has been significantly suppressed.

Since the beginning of this year, the export performance of China's textile and clothing products to the US has been depressed. Except for the growth of Spring Festival factors in March, the growth rate of all other months is below 2% or even negative.

According to the information of the 103rd Canton Fair, the number of foreign businessmen in this year's textile and clothing hall is far less than that in previous years. The turnover has also dropped significantly, and the external environment for the development of the textile industry is becoming increasingly grim.

At present, major textile groups in the United States have put forward various plans, including countervailing investigations, anti-dumping investigations, self initiated anti-dumping measures by the government based on monitoring plans, and safeguard measures against specific products (Clause 421), etc., to deal with textile and apparel coming from China after the lifting of the ban at the end of this year.

The profit margins of textile and garment export enterprises have been seriously squeezed since 2007, thanks to the appreciation of the renminbi, the reduction of export tax rebates, and the rise of labor and raw material prices and other market factors. Most enterprises are at the margins of small profits or losses.

According to the statistics of the national development and Reform Commission, the value added of textile industry increased 12.4% in the first half of May this year, and the growth rate dropped 4.8 percentage points year-on-year.

Export delivery value of 290 billion 900 million yuan, an increase of 8.7%, down 7 percentage points over the same period.

The textile industry achieved a profit of 41 billion 800 million yuan, an increase of 9.2% over the same period last year, and the growth rate dropped by 34.3 percentage points over the same period last year.

Wang Shenyang, President of the China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, believes that the industrial foundation of China's textile and garment industry has not changed. Over the years, production and operation has accumulated rich experience.

Every link of the entire industrial chain, from production research to marketing, has strong human resources as a guarantee.

The temporary difficulties of the industry can be alleviated through policy care, which is conducive to sustained and healthy development of enterprises and create conditions for industrial upgrading and pformation.

The report of the General Administration of Customs recommends that we continue to track the situation of China's textile industry relocation, assess the impact of rising domestic labor costs, improve the capacity of the Midwest to pfer the labor intensive industries in the central and western regions as soon as possible, give full play to the late advantages of the central and western regions, and closely communicate with the United States to ensure that the restrictions on the 21 categories of textiles exported to the United States in December 31, 2008 will be lifted on time, creating a relaxed environment for Sino US textile and clothing trade.