Analysis On The Economic Operation Of China'S Industrial Textiles Industry In The Past Year

　　 1、 Economic operation of industrial textiles industry in 2021

In 2020, driven by the demand for epidemic prevention materials, China's industrial textiles industry experienced a round of rapid growth, accumulating a large base for the development of the industry in 2021. In 2021, the external environment will become more complex and severe. The rise of commodity prices and shipping costs will change the cost structure of the industry. The decline in demand for epidemic prevention materials and the huge amount of production capacity will lead to intensified competition in the industry. Although the non epidemic prevention materials sector has a strong rebound momentum, the whole industry shows a trend of deep adjustment, and the growth rate of major economic indicators drops sharply.

According to the survey of 360 sample enterprises by China Industrial Textiles Industry Association (hereinafter referred to as "the association"), the prosperity index of the industry in 2021 is 73.8, which is significantly lower than that in the same period of 2020 (80.4), but it is still in a high boom range (as shown in Figure 1).

Figure 1 prosperity index of China's industrial textiles industry in recent years

Source: China Industrial Textiles Association

　　 （1） Production keeps running smoothly

In the first year of the 14th five year plan, China's industrial textiles industry continued to adhere to the concept of high-quality development, and made efforts to overcome the adverse factors such as the release of new production capacity, the decline of market demand, the dual control of domestic energy consumption and the policy of power and production restriction, and the production of major products remained basically stable. According to the statistics of the association, the total fiber processing volume of China's industrial textiles industry will reach 19.385 million tons in 2021, with a year-on-year increase of 1.2%; As the main raw material of industrial textiles, the output of Nonwovens in China was 8.205 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 6.6%.

　　 （2） Economic benefits have declined significantly

According to the data of the National Bureau of statistics, in 2021, the business income of Enterprises above Designated Size (not full caliber) in the industrial textile industry will drop by 13.3% year on year, with an average growth of 13.9% in two years; The total profit decreased by 58.7% year on year, with an average increase of 19.2% in two years; The operating profit margin was 5.5%, a year-on-year decrease of 6.1%.

In 2021, with the decline of sales and prices of epidemic prevention materials and related products, the industry's profitability declined significantly. However, from the historical data, the industry's operating profit margin is still in a healthy and stable operating range. Since 2011, the operating profit margin of the industry has been maintained at about 5.5%, and the demand for epidemic prevention materials will reach a historical high of 11.4% in 2020; In 2021, as the demand for epidemic prevention materials ebbs and the market returns to rationality, the operating profit margin of the industry gradually returns to the operating range before the epidemic, and the annual operating profit margin is 5.5% (as shown in Figure 2).

Figure 2 profit margin of Enterprises above Designated Size in China's industrial textiles industry (unit:%)

Data source: according to the data of National Bureau of statistics

In 2020, the market demand for epidemic prevention will decline obviously. According to the data of National Bureau of statistics, in 2021, the operating income and total profit of Nonwovens Enterprises above Designated Size in China will decrease by 22.2% and 69.8% respectively year on year; The business income and total profit of Enterprises above the scale of other industrial textiles where medical and health textiles, filtration and geotechnical textiles are located decreased by 20.2% and 62.5% respectively year-on-year.

The recovery momentum is obvious in the areas with low relevance to epidemic prevention materials. The operating income and total profit of the enterprises above the scale of rope, cable and cable increased by 8.8% and 19.1% respectively year on year; The operating income and total profit of textile belt and cord fabric Enterprises above designated size increased by 18.2% and 72.7% respectively year on year; The operating income and total profit of Enterprises above awning and canvas scale increased by 23.0% and 38.7% respectively over the same period of last year (see Table 1).

　　 （3） Investment gradually returns to rationality

At the beginning of 2020, due to the outbreak of new crown pneumonia, the production capacity of nonwovens industry was greatly expanded. After entering 2021, the investment enthusiasm of the industry decreased, and some enterprises cancelled the production capacity investment plan determined in 2020. According to the statistics of the association, the fixed assets investment of China's nonwovens industry enterprises will drop 63% year on year in 2021.

Enterprises are very active in the fields of environment-friendly products, green production and intelligent manufacturing. In 2021, the investment in high-speed spinning melt composite production line, melt blown wood pulp composite nonwovens production line and wood pulp spunlaced nonwovens production line is more active. Under the background of national efforts to strengthen the construction of infrastructure and ecological civilization, high-end geosynthetics and high-performance filter materials are also the focus of the industry investment. At present, three domestic polypropylene spunbonded needle punched geotextile production lines have been put into operation.

　　 （4） Export of epidemic prevention materials fell sharply

1. Export situation

According to the data of China Customs, in 2021, the export volume of China's industrial textiles industry (customs 8-digit HS code statistics) reached 53.87 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 44.9%, and an average increase of 40.4% in two years.

In terms of export value, unlisted textile products (mainly masks) are the largest export products in the industry at present, with an export value of 12.94 billion US dollars. However, due to the sharp drop in foreign demand for masks, its export volume has decreased by 75.2% compared with the same period in 2020; The overseas market has a strong demand for traditional products such as felt / tent, industrial coated fabric, cord (cable) textile, synthetic leather and leather base cloth, industrial glass fiber products and other traditional products. The export volume reached US $4.4 billion, US $4.27 billion, US $3.06 billion, US $2.35 billion and US $2.12 billion respectively, up 49.6%, 34.9%, 23.4%, 42.2% and 32.3% respectively.

The export of nonwovens and related products presents different trends. In 2021, China exported 1.389 million tons of nonwoven coiled materials, valued at US $4.54 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3% and 10.0% respectively. The export volume was basically the same as the historical high in 2020, indicating that the global demand for China's nonwovens was still strong; The export of disposable sanitary products reached US $2.52 billion, an increase of 11.3% year-on-year; The export of nonwoven protective clothing (including medical protective clothing) was US $2.18 billion, down 80.3% year on year; The export value of medical cotton, gauze and bandage was US $980 million, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1% (see Table 2).

2. Import

In 2021, with the sharp decline of import demand for epidemic prevention materials, the production capacity of overseas industrial textiles will gradually recover, and the structure of imported products will change. According to China's customs statistics, the import value of textile industry decreased by 1.172 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic, China's public health emergency material support system has been constantly improved and improved. At present, the domestic epidemic prevention materials reserve is sufficient. Therefore, the import demand for masks and protective clothing has decreased significantly. The import volume of unlisted textile products (mainly masks) and nonwoven protective clothing (including medical protective clothing) decreased by 79.6% and 93.0% respectively year-on-year.

　　 2、 Development prospect of industrial textiles industry in 2022

2022 is the year when the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held and the year of the implementation of the 14th five year plan. At present, the global economic recovery is still unstable due to multiple factors, such as the continuous spread of mutated new coronavirus, marginal withdrawal of stimulus policies and slow repair of supply chain bottlenecks. Domestic economic development is also facing the triple pressures of demand contraction, supply shock and weakening expectations. Looking forward to 2022, China's industrial textiles industry will face a more complex environment, but the positive factors promoting the development of the industry have not changed. The in-depth implementation of strategies such as expanding domestic demand, ecological protection and healthy China will bring huge development space to the industrial textile industry, and the industry will go out of the adjustment period and enter the growth channel again.

In 2022, the industrial textiles industry will continue to adhere to the new development concept, take high-quality development as the theme, and meet the needs of various parts of the national economy for high-performance textiles as the purpose, expand high-quality supply, maintain the balance between supply and demand, promote technological innovation, industrial chain upgrading, digital transformation, green development and quality improvement, and promote high-quality nonwovens Technology upgrading, capacity upgrading and brand upgrading in the eight key areas of textiles for safety protection and emergency rescue, high-performance textiles for aerospace, textiles for marine industry and fishery, textiles for medical and health care, textiles for transportation, textiles for geotechnical construction and textiles for filtration have continued to move towards high-end, digital and green.

Note 1: the "two-year average growth rate" mentioned in this paper refers to the compound average growth rate calculated by comparing the data of 2021 with the data of the same period in 2019.

Note 2: members of the association can click "read the original" to download the full version of this article. The member units that submit the statistical data of 2021 to the association will receive a more detailed analysis report.

(source: China Industrial Textiles Association)