Apparel / Textiles & Accessories

The export volume reached 175.43 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. Despite the complex domestic and international situation and the impact of a high base in 2021, China's clothing exports continued to increase throughout 2022, which is not easy. The relevant person in charge of the Clothing Branch of the China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce recently stated at the 2023 Light Textile Industry Foreign Trade Outlook Symposium, In the three years since the outbreak of the epidemic, China's clothing exports have reversed the trend of declining year by year since reaching a peak of 186.28 billion US dollars in 2014. The export scale in 2022 has increased by nearly 20% compared to 2019 before the epidemic, fully reflecting the characteristics of China's clothing industry, such as high resilience, abundant potential, and strong competitiveness, in the context of global supply chain impact and market supply and demand imbalance since the outbreak of the epidemic.

In 2022, China's exports of needle and woven clothing showed a trend of decreasing in quantity and increasing in price. According to customs data, in 2022, China's exports of knitted clothing reached 78.56 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%; The export volume was 21.5 billion pieces, a year-on-year decrease of 2.3%; Export prices increased by 7% year-on-year. According to customs data, the export value of China's woven clothing is 74.15 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 9.5%; The export volume was 12.8 billion pieces, a year-on-year decrease of 3.4%; Export prices increased by 13.3% year-on-year; The export value of clothing accessories was 16.63 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 12.5%.

At the same time, the export of sports, outdoor, and cold resistant clothing has maintained rapid growth. According to customs data, in 2022, China's exports of shirts, coats/winter jackets, scarves/ties/handkerchiefs increased by 26.2%, 20.1%, and 22% year-on-year, respectively; The export volume of sportswear, dresses, T-shirts, sweaters, socks, and gloves increased by about 10% year-on-year; The year-on-year growth rate of exports of suits/casual suits, pants, and bras is less than 5%; The export value of underwear/pajamas and baby clothing decreased slightly by 2.6% and 2.2% year-on-year.

Last year, Chinese clothing exports to the United States and Japan decreased, while exports to ASEAN showed a significant increase. According to customs data, in 2022, Chinese clothing exports to the United States reached 38.32 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 3%; Exports to Japan reached 14.62 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 0.3%; Exports to the European Union reached 33.33 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%; Exports to ASEAN reached $17.07 billion, a year-on-year increase of 25%. Last year, China's clothing exports to the three traditional export markets of the United States, the European Union, and Japan totaled 86.27 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 0.2%, accounting for 49.2% of China's clothing exports, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021. The ASEAN market has shown great development potential, and under the favorable effect of the implementation of RCEP, China's clothing exports to ASEAN accounted for 9.7% of the total exports, an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021 The above person in charge stated that.

In addition, from the perspective of clothing exports in major provinces and cities in China, in 2022, the export volume of clothing from Zhejiang and Xinjiang increased against the trend, while the export volume of clothing from Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Fujian showed a downward trend. According to customs data, in 2022, Zhejiang Province's clothing exports reached 34.89 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 13.1%, far exceeding the national average growth rate of clothing exports; Guangdong ranks second, with a year-on-year decrease of 8.6% in clothing exports; Jiangsu, Shandong, and Fujian ranked third to fifth in terms of clothing exports. Jiangsu's clothing exports decreased by 1% year-on-year, Shandong's clothing exports increased by 6.2% year-on-year, and Fujian's clothing exports decreased by 9.7% year-on-year. The total clothing exports of the top five exporting provinces and cities account for 71% of the total clothing exports in China, a decrease of 1 percentage point compared to 2021. Last year, the clothing exports of Xinjiang increased significantly by 71.8% year-on-year, surpassing Shanghai and ranking sixth. The clothing exports of central and western regions such as Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangxi have seen rapid growth, with year-on-year growth of 21.8%, 37.5%, and 21.2%, respectively, "said the person in charge.