Apparel / Textiles & Accessories

Last year, India and Southeast Asian countries were affected by the epidemic, and a large number of textile orders flowed into China. As the epidemic control in these regions and countries gradually shows results, the textile industry has also begun to recover.

Vietnam's textile exports soar

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Vietnam, the export of finished textile products in Vietnam in the first quarter of 2021 reached 7.18 billion US dollars, an increase of 1.1%over the same period in 2020; the export of fiber and textile yarn increased by 31%;the export of canvas and industrial fabrics increased by 8.8%.

In the first quarter of 2021, the Vietnamese securities company VNDIRECT predicted that with the economic recovery of the main export markets of Vietnam's textile industry, such as the United States, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, the value of Vietnamese textile exports will also increase.

According to VNDIRECT, Vietnam’s textile exports in the second quarter of 2021 will grow by 8.4%compared to the same period in 2020.

It can be seen that after the severe impact of the new Corona pandemic in 2020, the textile and apparel industry has clearly begun to recover.

In 2021, Vietnam’s textile and garment industry’s goal is to reach 39 billion US dollars in exports, an increase of 10% over 2020.

Wu Dejiang believes that this goal is feasible, because Vietnam's textile and garment industry is facing huge opportunities brought by many new free trade agreements.

Pakistan and Bangladesh orders pick up

According to the Economic and Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, data recently released by the Pakistan Statistics Bureau show that in the first seven months of this fiscal year (July 2020 to January 2021), Pakistan’s textile and clothing exports have increased more than 8% year-on-year to 8.76 billion US dollars.

Among them, exports in January 2021 increased by 10.79%year-on-year to US$1.32 billion.

It is understood that the growth of textiles and clothing mainly comes from high value-added textiles, such as knitwear, towels, and bedding.

According to the latest data from the Bangladesh Export Promotion Agency, in January 2021, Bangladesh’s garment exports amounted to US$2.862 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5.83%, and a year-on-year decrease of 3.86%from the previous month.

The total export value for this fiscal year (starting in July 2020) was US$18.408 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.44%. Among them, the export of woven clothing was US$8.419 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 10.85%,and the export of knitted clothing was US$9.989 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.84%.

The EU is still the largest export region of Bangladesh, accounting for 62.47%, followed by the United States with 18.5%and Canada with 3.11%.

Order transfer, domestic orders decrease

Industry analysts pointed out that some Southeast Asian orders were transferred to China in August and September last year, but this situation has slowed down significantly after November 2020, and after the epidemic in Southeast Asia and South Asia is under control, orders have begun. Stably return to the local area.

It is expected that with the vaccine already in place, the possibility of another Southeast Asian textile and apparel order flowing into China this year is relatively small.

The beginning of this year was supposed to be the peak textile season in March and April, but various textile orders were not optimistic." Overseas finished goods orders are not very good now, because foreign inventories were high last year." Ouyang Hong, general manager of Suzhou Jingzhi Textile Technology Co., Ltd. and Suzhou Yunzhilan Textile Technology Co., Ltd said that they mainly do foreign trade business in Europe and the United States. We send emails to overseas customers, and they basically don't reply, and there are no orders."

At present, the recovery rate of weaving operation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has slowed down, stocks of various grey fabrics have begun to rise slightly, and the operation rate of printing and dyeing has also begun to decline slowly.

Although the global epidemic is gradually being controlled and the economy is slowly recovering, textile orders from Europe and the United States are returning to Southeast Asia and other countries.

It is difficult to forcefully reverse the trend of low-end textiles from China to Southeast Asia, and the greater opportunity for China in the future lies in the control of quality and the further optimization and integration of the supply chain.