Market Observation: The Textile Industry Is Moving Forward Under Pressure With Steady Progress

"In 2022, the export scale of China's textile industry will hit a new record high, the investment growth will be good, and the confidence of enterprises in development will be consolidated. In a complex and severe situation, the development achievements will not come easily." At the 17th annual meeting of the China Textile Roundtable Forum held recently, He Yaqiong, director of the Consumer Products Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that entering 2023, The economic and social recovery and development of China is significantly better than expected. Although the current recovery foundation is still not solid, the textile industry with huge size has a good industrial foundation and development toughness, and is capable of pushing the high-quality development of the industry to a new height.

In 2022, both supply and demand sides of the textile industry will bear pressure at the same time. A series of risk factors, such as insufficient market demand, sluggish supply chain operation, rising prices of bulk raw materials, and complex trade environment, have brought great challenges to the textile industry.

Data shows that in 2022 Clothing shoes and hats The retail sales of knitwear and textile products decreased by 6.5% year on year, while the retail sales of online clothing products only increased by 3.5%, 4.8 percentage points slower than that in 2021. The price of raw materials at the production end remained high, and the cost pressure was transmitted to the consumer end. The pressure on the capital turnover of enterprises increased, production and marketing slowed down, and profits declined. The industrial added value, operating income, and total profits of enterprises above designated size decreased by 1.9%, 0.9%, and 24.8% respectively year on year.

However, in the context of the overall pressure of the industry, a number of enterprises have been holding fast to high-quality development and have achieved the goal of going against the trend. Gu Weida, secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of the Board of Directors of Beijing Fashion Holdings Co., Ltd., introduced that in recent years, the company has accelerated its strategic restructuring, forming a fashion culture industry group pattern in which brand operation, scientific and technological innovation, cultural creativity, and arts and crafts are linked.

With the joint efforts of various parties, the development toughness of the textile industry has been fully demonstrated, and the stable operation advantages of the complete industrial system continue to emerge. Sun Ruizhe, president of China Textile Industry Federation, mentioned that from 2020 to 2022, China's annual total export of textiles and clothing will exceed 300 billion US dollars, reaching 340.95 billion US dollars in 2022, hitting a new historical high; The operating income of textile enterprises above designated size has increased by 0.5% annually in three years, indicating that the scale of production and marketing of the industry has progressed steadily; The completed investment in fixed assets of the textile industry and chemical fiber industry increased by 2.9% and 8.8% respectively in three years, indicating that enterprises still adhere to expanding investment in transformation and upgrading during the COVID-19 epidemic.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, the textile industry continued to play an important role in stabilizing the economic operation, balancing the balance of payments, and promoting the improvement of people's livelihood. In 2023, China's epidemic prevention and control will enter a new stage, and the textile industry will gradually recover to a stable track of in-depth structural adjustment and high-quality development, opening a new prospect of building a modern textile industry system.

Cao Li, deputy director of the Department of Economics of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, said that to promote the effective improvement of the quality and reasonable growth of the quantity of the economy, it is necessary to scientifically grasp three "focus points", namely, to focus on improving total factor productivity, to focus on improving the resilience and safety of the industrial chain supply chain, and to focus on promoting urban and rural integration and regional coordinated development.

"Promoting the upgrading of the industrial chain, the extension of the value chain to the high-end, and the construction of a modern industrial system are the inevitable requirements for achieving high-quality development." Sun Ruizhe said that the textile industry should actively strengthen the input of scientific and technological innovation, integration innovation, design innovation, digital innovation, green innovation and other factors to improve total factor labor productivity; We should adapt to a series of new changes such as the pattern of factors, strength requirements, and international cooperation rules, and improve the resilience and security of the industrial chain supply chain; We should promote coordinated industrial and regional development in combination with the major national and regional strategies, rural revitalization strategies, and urban agglomeration strategies.

Under the increasingly complex international pattern, how should textile industry enterprises respond to the new situation of opening up? The Deputy Director of the Institute of Americas and Oceania of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce carefully proposed that: first, based on the new development pattern, grasp the expansion trend of the Asian consumer market, and enhance the position and voice of Chinese enterprises in the industrial value chain; Second, explore multi-dimensional innovation paths and show greater achievements in the fields of artificial intelligence technology, green sustainability, demand customization, and intellectual property protection; The third is to realize new initiatives of collaborative opening up, and various entities explore multiple cooperation modes to achieve deep resource sharing.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly stated that high-quality development is the primary task of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. He Yaqiong said that enterprises in the textile industry should accurately grasp the economic pillar, cornerstone of people's livelihood and cultural carrier of the textile industry in the new era, consolidate the industrial positioning of international competitive advantage, promote prosperity, stability and long-term stability in border areas, take the initiative and forge ahead bravely. At the same time, we will comprehensively upgrade the modernization level of the textile industry system, promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of the industry, consolidate the leading position of advantageous industries, and organically combine the implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand with deepening the supply side structural reform, taking expanding domestic demand for textiles and clothing as a priority consideration. In addition, we should refine the spiritual logo and cultural essence of Chinese civilization, and enhance the communication and influence of textile and clothing brands.

(Source: Economic Daily)