Three Major Problems Encountered In China'S Export Textile And Garment Industry

Textile and garment industry is a traditional dominant industry in China, but the main market economy in the world has been depressed recently.

It is also affected.

According to Ningbo customs statistics, in the first three quarters of 2016,

Textile yarns, fabrics and products in the region

89 billion 420 million yuan, clothing and accessories exports 50 billion 30 million yuan, down 1.5% and 5.3% respectively over the same period.

However, under the background of declining market demand, the eco environmental barriers in Europe and the United States are still building up continuously, and the impact on China's export textile industry can not be ignored and needs constant attention.

Two categories of key auxiliaries into the forbidden countdown

At the beginning of this year, the EU has revised the REACH regulations, and will totally prohibit the textile products with more than 0.01% NPEO content from entering the market.

In October this year, the European Union issued a circular through WTO, which will prohibit the production and sale of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) substances, and the content of PFOA in any consumer product should not exceed 25 micrograms / kg (ppb), and the content of its related substances should not exceed 1000ppb.

NPEO is called nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether. It is currently an important textile auxiliaries in the textile industry. It is widely used in dyeing and finishing of textiles and leather, while PFOA is the key promoter in the production of functional clothing such as waterproofing, oil proofing and antifouling.

The harm of NPE and PFOA has aroused social concern.

Studies have shown that the former will enter the environment along with washing clothes and decompose nonenvironmental hormones such as nonylphenol to interfere with human endocrine and reproductive health.

PFOA is proved to be a persistent and accumulative toxicant which can not be degraded easily. It can be absorbed by human body through skin contact and food chain, and can damage nerve, immune system and reproductive system.

However, NPE and PFOA are still two important auxiliaries in the textile industry, which will bring huge impact to the textile industry in the short term.

Even the European Union, which is technically mature, has a very cautious attitude and set up a pitional period of 3 years and 5 years respectively.

Compared with the European Union, there are still many small and medium-sized enterprises in China. There is still a gap in technology.

Especially after NPE and PFOA have been banned, enterprises are facing the dilemma of immature substitutes. For example, similar substances such as perfluorononic acid, which are similar to PFOA, have also been included in the EU's high attention substances. The price of C6 additives currently available can be nearly doubled, but the performance is still insufficient.

Under the situation of small profits, more and more traditional auxiliaries are prohibited, which will accelerate the pformation of enterprises and win the fittest.

Green textile barriers continue to upgrade

In addition to production process pressure, the ecological safety requirements of finished products are changing rapidly.

The United States clothing and footwear Safety Association released the seventeenth edition of the list of restricted substances at the beginning of the year. It announced more than 12 categories of banned or restricted substances used in clothing, footwear and home textile products, covering more than 250 kinds of substances, covering the global chemicals management and product safety requirements of restricted substances. For example, according to the EU REACH regulations and POP regulations, new requirements for restrictions on lead and flame retardants were added.

As an International Eco textile weathervane, the International Environmental Protection Textile Association (OEKO-TEX) launched the 2016 edition of the OEKO-TEX100 standard this year. It has been greatly updated. Dozens of kinds of mould inhibitors, o-benzoic acid two formate, organotin, carcinogenic dyes and other substances have been included in the control.

For example, 9 kinds of chlorophenols have been added to the restricted list. Such substances are commonly used as mould proof, preservative and antibacterial agents in weaving slurry, but they are teratogenic and carcinogenic. The residual chlorophenols in the fibers will form dioxins in the burning of old clothes and cause lasting harm.

The concern is that the list adds three compounds, perfluoroheptanic acid, perfluoroylnonylic acid and perfluorodecic acid, which means that such substances will also be banned gradually along with PFOA.

The increasingly severe green barriers have an increasingly prominent impact on the textile industry. According to statistics, over the past year, China's export textile and apparel has been recalled by more than 100 foreign companies.

Green manufacturing will become the key to sustainable development

In the context of "remanufacturing" in Europe and the United States, the ever enhanced technical barriers may be a catalyst for developed countries to promote the return of manufacturing industry on the basis of their own technological advantages.

With the increasing demand for consumer safety, if China's textile industry can not keep pace with the pformation of green manufacturing, not only will the risk of export trade continue to increase, it may even lead to a squeeze in the share of the domestic market.

For the vast majority of export enterprises to survive and develop in a highly competitive international market, they must conform to the trend and strengthen their sense of social responsibility on the one hand.

Timely attention should be paid to the dynamics of the technical regulations in the textile industry, increase the R & D input of green technology, reduce harmful emissions, win the respect of the society, and realize the sustainable development of enterprises.

Two, we must strictly implement quality control.

For those hazardous substances which are temporarily unable to be completely avoided, such as technology, etc., on the basis of strengthening the check of raw and auxiliary materials, we must strictly implement the finished product testing to ensure that the quality of products meets the requirements and avoid subsequent quality disputes.