Global Textile Survey In January 2025 Released By International Textile Federation (ITMF)

The global textile survey in January 2025 released by the International Textile Federation (ITMF) shows that the prospect of textile business is cautiously optimistic, and all links of the industrial chain are still facing challenges. Although the overall operating status of the textile industry is still negative at this stage (- 15 percentage points), the overall trend since November 2024 has remained upward, especially in South America, where the overall operating status of the textile industry is positive (+21 percentage points), North America and Central America - 40 percentage points, and East Asia - 43 percentage points, still under pressure. It is worth mentioning that the business situation of garment manufacturers turned positive (+3 percentage points).

The survey shows that the overall outlook of the textile industry (the next six months) remains positive, with optimistic expectations accounting for 43% and expected turnoff accounting for 14%, which raises the overall global expectation to positive (+29 percentage points). The optimistic expectations of South America and yarn manufacturers accounted for 46% and 45% respectively, which is the main driving force for the improvement of global expectations.

The survey shows that the global textile orders continue to recover steadily. The data in January 2025 shows that the order situation has recovered to - 6 percentage points, maintaining a recovery state for 14 consecutive times. South Asia and South America are positive (+10% and+25%), but from the perspective of the industrial chain, home textile is the only positive link. At the same time, global outstanding orders have continued to recover since March 2024, rising to 2.5 months in January 2025. In terms of regions, North America and Central America accounted for 2.9 months, indicating that demand has begun to increase although it has always been a problem. From the perspective of product category, textile machinery and home textile have the longest outstanding orders, both maintaining a growth trend.

At present, the global textile industry still faces challenges. Although the global start-up rate in January 2025 is higher than the low point in November 2023, it will decline from 73% in November last year to 72%. By region, the operating rate of South America is 80%, and the operating rate of yarn manufacturers in various product categories is 83%.

This survey still shows that continued weak demand (58%), geopolitical risks (37%), high energy and raw material costs (31%, 28%), and inflation (24%) continue to cause concern to the industry. However, order cancellation remained low and stable. The order cancellation index of East Asia and Southeast Asia was 4%, and that of textile chemical and home textile producers was the highest, 5%.

The global textile inventory index rose from - 18 in November 2024 to - 13 in January 2025 (a higher index means a higher inventory level). By region, the inventory index of East Asia is+2. In the industrial chain, knitting and weaving manufacturers have the highest inventory,+17, and clothing manufacturers have the lowest inventory level index, - 26. The overall inventory level of the textile industry remained basically unchanged.