The First Five Months Of The Operation Of The Home Textile Industry Were Stable And Good

　　 1、 Macro economy continued to recover

Since 2024, global economic activity has been expected to slow down and the economic foundation has become stable. The effect of national macro policies continued to release, and domestic and foreign market demand gradually recovered to play a role in ensuring the smooth operation of China's home textile industry. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of social goods consumption in China increased by 4.1% year on year from January to May; The completed investment in fixed assets of textile industry including home textile increased by 13.4% year on year, 17 percentage points higher than the same period of last year; The industrial added value of the textile industry (including home textile manufacturing industry) increased by 5.3% year on year, 8.3 percentage points higher than that of the previous year; The operating income of home textile enterprises above designated size increased by 3.93% year on year, and the growth rate gradually expanded compared with the first few months of this year.

　　 2、 The industry's domestic demand market has made steady progress

In the domestic market, with the support of the national consumption promotion policy, the income and consumption confidence of residents have gradually stabilized, new consumption highlights such as "big health" and "sleeping" have gradually expanded their influence, and the domestic market of the home textile industry is generally stable and good. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the domestic sales output value of home textile enterprises above designated size increased by 3.62% year on year from January to May, a further increase compared with the previous four months. According to the statistics of more than 260 home textile sample enterprises by the Association, 67.69% of the enterprises whose domestic sales increased and remained flat from January to May on a year-on-year basis, of which 48.46% were enterprises with year-on-year growth; The enterprises that remained flat on a year-on-year basis accounted for 9.23%, and the domestic sales output value of enterprises increased by 9.16% on a year-on-year basis.

From January to May, the domestic sales of the three sub industries of bedding, fabric and towel all maintained a positive growth trend, especially the domestic sales of the fabric industry increased significantly. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to May this year, the domestic sales output value of textile enterprises above designated size increased by 11.55% year on year, higher than that of other major sub industries; 91 fabric sample enterprises tracked by the Association also showed this point. From January to May, the domestic sales output increased by 19.32% year on year, of which 80.2% achieved positive growth.

In addition, the bedding industry, led by brand enterprises, based on consumer demand and user experience, grasped the market trend, combined with healthy sleeping and product function quality, maintained stable growth. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the domestic sales of bedding enterprises above designated size increased by 4.69% year on year from January to May; The domestic sales output value of 97 key bedding enterprises tracked by the Association from January to May increased by 10.29% year on year.

Domestic sales of towel industry remained stable in general. Domestic sales of towel enterprises above designated size increased slightly by 1.30% from January to May on a year-on-year basis. Domestic sales of 73 towel sample enterprises tracked by the Association increased slightly by 0.77% on a year-on-year basis.

　　 3、 Industry exports grew

In 2024, with the improvement of the global economy and China's continuous promotion of a series of stable foreign trade policies, China's home textile export will show a warming trend. According to customs data, China's export of home textiles from January to May was US $18.637 billion, up 3.11% year on year, of which the export volume in May was 11.3% higher than that of the previous month.

　　 01 Except towels and blankets, other major products have been recovered

From January to May, China's exports of bedding, fabric products, carpets and kitchen textiles grew. Specifically, the export of bedding reached US $6.002 billion, up 3.74% year on year; Export of fabric products reached 6.796 billion US dollars, up 4.25% year on year; Exported carpets reached 1.755 billion US dollars, up 6.6% year on year; The export of kitchen textiles reached 1.632 billion US dollars, up 9.25% year on year.

The export performance of towel products was not optimistic, and continued to decline, and the decline was further expanded. From January to May, China exported 884 million dollars of towel products, a decline of 15.88%. The performance of major export markets was poor, including 33.5% of exports to the ASEAN market, 10.13% of exports to the EU market, and 13.39% of exports to Japan. In addition, the export of blanket products reached US $1.221 billion, a slight decrease of 1.72% year on year, which was mainly affected by the shrinking export volume of electric blankets. In 2023, the demand for electric blankets in Europe and other regions increased significantly, and the export volume of electric blankets in China increased significantly. In 2024, the export volume of electric blankets in China decreased by 10.25% year on year from January to May due to inventory and demand mitigation and other factors.

　　 02 Market recovery in developed economies such as the US and Europe By

Among the traditional markets in the US, Europe and Japan, the US and EU markets have continued their growth trend since the second half of 2023, with a significant recovery trend. From January to May, China exported $4.301 billion of home textiles to the US market, up 10.17% year on year, and $2.389 billion to the EU market, up 6.16% year on year. However, the growth momentum of the Japanese market is insufficient. From January to May, China's export of home textiles to the Japanese market was 1.036 billion dollars, down 4.52% year on year, but the decline has narrowed, 4.6 percentage points lower than the level of the same period in 2023.

The market along the "Belt and Road" has maintained stable growth. From January to May, China's export of home textiles to the market along the "Belt and Road" has reached US $7.539 billion, up 1.72% year on year. Among them, the export to the ASEAN market was 3.566 billion dollars, up 5.17% year on year. It is worth noting that the export of surface and auxiliary materials supported the growth of the ASEAN market, and the export of home textile products was actually narrowing. From January to May, China's export of home textile products to the ASEAN market was 1.835 billion dollars, down 3.91% year on year.

　　 03 Exports of the top five ports are stable and improving

Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong and Shanghai are the top five ports in China's home textile export. The export situation from January to May was stable and good, among which Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shandong, the top three ports, achieved considerable growth, with the export volume increasing by 4.85%, 7.8% and 4.83% respectively year on year. Guangdong showed a decline from last year's high base, down 1.72% year on year, and Shanghai port slightly decreased by 0.42% year on year, The decrease was 8.85 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year. In addition, the ports in Fujian and Xinjiang continued to grow at a high level. The export volume from January to May increased by 50.15% and 33.53% respectively year on year.

Figure 1 - Export volume of China's top five export ports of home textiles from January to May, 2004 and year-on-year

　　 4、 Adjust industrial structure and develop new quality productivity

Since this year, the home textile industry has been constantly adjusting its industrial structure, and the quality and efficiency of the industry has been constantly improved. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, the profit margin of home textile enterprises above designated size from January to May was 3.60%, showing a rising trend compared with the first few months of this year. The home textile industry continues to explore new scientific and technological highlights, improve the level of automation and digitalization of the industry, ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the industry and optimize the allocation and utilization of resources by continuously improving the quality and efficiency of the industry, so that the new quality productivity can meet the changing market demand. The home textile industry focuses on the big health and sleeping industry to create industry highlights and promote the development of new quality productivity of the industry; Formulate carbon footprint accounting rules for bedding, towels, etc. by integrating the coordinated development of new business types and green manufacturing; Grasp the country's economic growth point and innovation direction for the transformation of new and old driving forces and consumers' exchange of old for new, actively promote technological progress, industrial upgrading and structural adjustment, jointly provide a strong driving force and broad space for the development of new quality productivity in the home textile industry, and promote the industry to maintain a stable and well oriented operation and development.

(Source: China Household Textile Industry Association)