The Current Situation Of The Textile Manufacturing Industry In The United States (Chart)

In recent years, with the gradual disappearance of China's demographic dividend, rising production costs, and technological pformation and upgrading of textile and garment industry, textiles, as a highly automated industry, began to return to the United States, and the textile and garment manufacturing industry in the United States showed signs of gradual recovery.

Especially in the southeastern part of the United States with good textile infrastructure (highly automated and environmentally friendly production facilities), attracting more and more enterprises to shift their production lines back to the United States, data show that over the past 5 years, a large number of foreign textile enterprises have invested in the United States, and the location of their factories has been concentrated in the southeastern part of the United States.

In addition, after the Trump administration took office, a series of policies, such as ending the p Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), increasing tariffs on textiles and clothing imported from China and Mexico, and requiring the return of US businesses, are conducive to the return of the textile and garment manufacturing industry in the United States.

According to the data released by the US International Trade Commission (USITC), the operation of the textile industry in the United States (including fiber, yarn and fabric) is analyzed.

US textile industry fixed assets investment

According to USITC data, the total investment in fixed assets (factories and equipment) in the US textile industry increased by 36% from 2013 to 2016, from 1 billion 600 million US dollars in 2013 to US $2 billion 100 million in 2016, which is much higher than the pre recession level in 2008 (US $1 billion 400 million).

According to USITC statistics, in the new investment or plan investment report announced from January 2014 to December 2017, there were 59 publicly announced new investment or plan investments in the US textile industry, with a total investment exceeding US $2 billion 300 million (see table below).

In addition to the expansion of capacity investment and new factory investment announced by the United States, most of the new investment comes from other countries outside the United States, including China, India, Mexico, Canada, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. According to the investment area and industrial chain, more than 2/3 of investment is in North Carolina and South Carolina. Although the new investment involves all aspects of the textile industry chain, cotton yarn and nonwovens are especially valued by foreign investment.

If Cole group of China set up Cole American company in 2013 and announced that it will invest 218 million US dollars to build two cotton yarn factories in South Carolina, it is expected to create 500 jobs after completion. Shandong Ruyi announced in 2017 that it invested 410 million US dollars to build cotton mills in Arkansas, the fifth largest cotton producing area in the United States, and this investment will create 800 new jobs.

Shipments of manufactured textiles in the United States

Unlike the continuous growth of fixed assets investment in textile industry, the volume of shipments made in the United States showed a moderate downward trend in the 4 years from 2013 to 2016. Although the trend of the decline in 2017 decreased to 39 billion 600 million US dollars, there was still a 3% gap compared with 2013.

According to USITC analysis, the increase of fixed assets investment in the domestic textile industry can not be simply equated with the increase in production capacity. Some new investments may be mainly used for the replacement of existing equipment, upgrading of technology and modernization, or strategic investment in product diversification. Therefore, the increase of new investment may also be accompanied by the adjustment of product strategy and the elimination of backward production capacity.

US textile exports and domestic sales

In terms of exports and domestic sales, US textile exports amounted to US $10 billion 600 million in 2017, also lower than the 5 year high of US $12 billion 100 million in 2014.

In contrast, the textiles produced in the United States remain stable in the domestic market supply. From 2013 to 2016, the proportion of the total domestic textile supply remained at 58% to 60%.