Apparel / Textiles & Accessories

"In 2022, the scale of China's textile industry's international trade exports hit a new record, the investment growth momentum was good, and the confidence of enterprises in development was consolidated. In a complex and severe situation, the development results did not come easily." At the 17th annual meeting of the China Textile Roundtable Forum held a few days ago, He Yaqiong, director of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that in 2023, China's economic and social recovery and development were significantly better than expected, Although the current recovery foundation is still not solid, the massive textile industry 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 of the textile industry will be under pressure at the same time. A series of risk factors, such as insufficient market demand, unsmooth supply chain operation, rising prices of bulk raw materials, and complex trade environment, have brought great challenges to the textile industry.

According to the data, in 2022, the retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, needles and textiles above the designated size decreased by 6.5% year-on-year, while the retail sales of online wear goods 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 capital turnover of enterprises increased, production and sales 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 on the industry, a number of enterprises have firmly held on to high-quality development and have achieved a countertrend. Gu Weida, secretary of the Party Committee and chairman of Beijing Fashion Holding Co., Ltd., said that in recent years, the company has accelerated its strategic restructuring and formed a fashion and cultural industry group pattern with four major sectors of brand operation, scientific and technological innovation, cultural creativity, and arts and crafts.

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 have continued to emerge. Sun Ruizhe, president of the China Textile Industry Federation, said that from 2020 to 2022, China's total annual international trade exports of textiles and clothing exceeded 300 billion US dollars, reaching 340.95 billion US dollars in 2022, a new record high; The operating income of textile enterprises above designated size has increased by 0.5% annually over the past three years, indicating that the scale of production and sales of the industry has steadily improved; The completed amount of fixed assets investment in the textile industry and chemical fiber industry increased by 2.9% and 8.8% annually in three years, respectively, indicating that enterprises still insisted on expanding investment in transformation and upgrading during the COVID-19 epidemic.

During the COVID-19, 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 return to the stable operation track of in-depth structural adjustment and focus on promoting high-quality development, and open a new phase of building a modern textile industrial system.

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

"Promoting the upgrading of the industrial chain, extending the value chain to the high-end, and building 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, integrated innovation, design innovation, digital innovation, green innovation and other factors to improve the total factor labor productivity; We should adapt to a series of new changes in the pattern of factors, strength requirements, international trade cooperation rules, and improve the resilience and security level of the industrial chain supply chain; We should promote the coordinated development of industries and regions in combination with the national regional major strategy, rural revitalization strategy and urban agglomeration strategy.

Under the increasingly complex international situation, how should textile enterprises cope with the new situation of opening up? Zhou Mi, deputy director of the Institute of America and Oceania of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, proposed that first, based on the new development pattern, grasp the expansion trend of the Asian consumer market, and strengthen the position and voice of Chinese enterprises in the industrial value chain; The second is to explore the multi-dimensional innovation path, and show greater achievements in the fields of artificial intelligence technology, green sustainability, demand customization, and intellectual property protection; Third, we will take new measures to achieve synergy and opening up. Various entities will explore various cooperation modes and realize deep resource sharing.

The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly states 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 industrial orientation of the economic pillar, the cornerstone of people's livelihood, and the cultural carrier of the textile industry in the new era, consolidate the competitive advantage of international trade, and promote the prosperity, stability, and long-term stability of the border areas, and take the initiative to assume responsibility and forge ahead with courage. At the same time, we should comprehensively improve the modernization level of the textile industry system, promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of the industry, consolidate the leading position of the 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 the first consideration. In addition, it is also necessary to refine and display the spiritual logo and cultural essence of Chinese civilization, and enhance the transmission and influence of textile and clothing brands.