Apparel / Textiles & Accessories

According to the statistics of China's customs, from January to December 2022, China's clothing (including clothing accessories, the same below) exported 175.43 billion US dollars, up 3.2% year on year. Under the influence of the complex domestic and international situation and the high base of last year, it is not easy for clothing exports to maintain a certain growth in 2022. In the three years since the epidemic, China's clothing exports have reversed the trend of declining year by year since reaching the peak of US $186.28 billion in 2014. The export scale in 2022 has increased by nearly 20% compared with 2019 before the epidemic, which fully reflects the characteristics of China's clothing industry with great resilience, potential and strong competitiveness under the impact of the global supply chain and the imbalance between supply and demand in the market since the outbreak of the epidemic.

From the perspective of the export situation in each month of 2022, it shows a trend of high at the beginning and low at the end. In addition to the decline of exports in February due to the impact of the Spring Festival, customs data shows that exports in each month from January to August have maintained growth, and exports in each month from September to December have a downward trend. In December, clothing exports reached US $14.29 billion, down 10.1% year on year. Compared with the decline of 16.8% in October and 14.5% in November, the decline trend slowed down. In the four quarters of 2022, China's clothing exports were 7.4%, 16.1%, 6.3% and - 13.8% year on year, with a significant decline in the fourth quarter. However, due to the high growth rate in the first three quarters, China's clothing exports still achieved a 3.2% growth in the whole year.

From January to December 2022, the export of knitted clothing reached 78.56 billion US dollars, up 4.4% year on year. The export volume was 21.5 billion pieces, down 2.3% year on year, and the export price increased 7% year on year. The export of woven clothing was 74.15 billion US dollars, up 9.5% year on year. The export quantity was 12.8 billion pieces, down 3.4% year on year, and the export price increased by 13.3%. The export of clothing accessories was 16.63 billion US dollars, up 12.5% year on year.

In December, the export of all major categories of clothing fell, but the decline was narrowed compared with the previous month. The export of knitted clothing fell by 13.2%, the export of woven clothing fell by 5.1%, and the export of clothing accessories fell by 0.8%. Affected by the "Xinjiang Related Act", the export of cotton knitted and woven clothing fell by 20.9% and 13.7% respectively in December, of which the export of cotton knitted and woven clothing to the United States fell by 38.9% and 28.4% respectively.

The export of cold-proof and outdoor clothing increased rapidly

The export of sports, outdoor and cold-proof clothing maintained a rapid growth. From January to December, the export of shirts, overcoats/winter clothes, scarves/ties/handkerchiefs increased by 26.2%, 20.1% and 22% respectively. The export of sportswear, dresses, T-shirts, sweaters, socks and gloves increased by about 10%. The export growth of suits/casual suits, trousers and bras was less than 5%. The export of underwear/pajamas and baby clothing decreased slightly by 2.6% and 2.2%.

In the month of December, except for the significant increase of 21.4% in the export of scarves/ties/handkerchiefs, the export of other categories fell. The export of baby clothing, underwear/pajamas decreased by about 20%, and the export of trousers, dresses and sweaters decreased by more than 10%.

Exports to the United States and Japan declined, while exports to ASEAN increased significantly

According to customs data, from January to December, China's exports to the United States and Japan were US $38.32 billion and US $14.62 billion respectively, down 3% and 0.3% year on year, and its clothing exports to the EU and ASEAN were US $33.33 billion and US $17.07 billion respectively, up 3.1% and 25% year on year. From January to December, China's exports to the three traditional export markets of the United States, the European Union and Japan totaled US $86.27 billion, down 0.2% year on year, accounting for 49.2% of China's total clothing, down 1.8 percentage points from the same period in 2022. The ASEAN market shows great potential for development. Under the favorable effect of the implementation of RCEP, exports to ASEAN account for 9.7% of the total exports, an increase of 1.7 percentage points over the same period in 2022.

From the perspective of major export regional markets, customs data show that from January to December, exports to Latin America increased significantly by 17.6%, exports to Africa decreased by 8.6%, exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased by 13.4%, and exports to RCEP member countries increased by 10.9%. From the perspective of major single country markets, exports to Kyrgyzstan increased by 71%, exports to South Korea and Australia increased by 5% and 15.2% respectively; Exports to the UK, Russia and Canada fell by 12.5%, 19.2% and 16.1% respectively.

In December, exports to major markets declined. Exports to the United States fell by 23.3%, falling for five consecutive months. Exports to the EU fell by 30.2% for the fourth consecutive month. Exports to Japan fell 5.5% for two consecutive months. Exports to ASEAN reversed the downward trend of the previous month and increased by 24.1%, of which exports to Vietnam increased by 456.8%.

Zhejiang and Xinjiang's exports rose against the trend, while Guangdong, Jiangsu and Fujian's exports declined

According to customs data, from January to December, Zhejiang's clothing exports reached 34.89 billion US dollars, up 13.1% year on year, far exceeding the national average growth rate of exports. Guangdong ranked second, with exports down 8.6%. Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian ranked third to fifth respectively, with - 1%, 6.2% and - 9.7% year-on-year. The total exports of the top five export provinces and cities accounted for 71% of the total exports of the country, down 1 percentage point from 2022. Xinjiang's exports increased by 71.8%, surpassing Shanghai and ranking sixth. The export of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and other central and western regions increased rapidly, with year-on-year growth of 21.8%, 37.5% and 21.2% respectively.

In December, the top five export regions fell. The exports of Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shandong, Jiangsu and Fujian decreased by 12.9%, 18.7%, 0.8%, 23.1% and 14.4% respectively. Some central and western provinces and cities bucked the trend of growth, with exports from Xinjiang and Guangxi increasing by 48.5% and 358.7% year on year.

The market share in North America has declined significantly, and the market share in the EU has remained stable

From January to November, China accounted for 23.4%, 30.5%, 55.1%, 26.9%, 31.8%, 33.1% and 61.2% of the market share of clothing imports from the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada respectively, with a year-on-year decrease of 4.6, 0.6, 1.4 and 4.1 percentage points in the United States, the European Union, Japan and Canada, and a year-on-year increase of 4.2, 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points in the United Kingdom, South Korea and Australia respectively.

International market situation

Imports from major markets slowed significantly in November

According to customs data, from January to November 2022, the import of clothing from the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea and Australia increased by 11.3%, 14.1%, 3.9%, 1.7%, 14.6%, 15.8% and 15.9% respectively.

Due to the sharp depreciation of the euro and the yen against the US dollar, the import growth of the EU and Japan in US dollars narrowed. From January to November, EU clothing imports increased by 29.2% in euros, far higher than the 14.1% increase in dollars. Japanese clothing imports increased only 3.9% in US dollars and 22.6% in Japanese yen.

After the rapid growth of 16.6% in the first three quarters of 2022, the import of the United States fell by 4.7% and 17.3% in October and November. In the first 10 months of 2022, the import of clothing from the EU maintained a positive growth, with a cumulative increase of 17.1%. In November, the import of clothing from the EU decreased significantly, with a year-on-year decrease of 12.6%. Japan's clothing imports maintained a positive growth from May to October 2022, and fell again in November by 2%.

Vietnam and Bangladesh's exports soared

In 2022, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other major clothing exports could recover and expand rapidly, and the export showed a rapid growth trend. From the perspective of the import of major international markets, from January to November, the import of clothing from Vietnam by major global markets was 35.78 billion US dollars, up 24.4% year on year. The import of the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Canada from Vietnam increased by 27.7%, 24.3%, 11.7%, 13.1% and 49.8% respectively. The world's major markets imported US $42.49 billion of clothing from Bangladesh, up 36.9% year on year. The imports of the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada from Bangladesh increased by 37%, 42.2%, 48.9% and 39.6% year on year respectively. The import of clothing from Cambodia and Pakistan in the world's major markets increased by more than 20%, and the import of clothing from Myanmar increased by 55.1%.

According to customs data, from January to November, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India increased their market share in the United States by 2.2, 1.9, 1 and 1.1 percentage points respectively year on year, Bangladesh's market share in the European Union increased by 3.5 percentage points year on year, and Vietnam and Myanmar's market share in Japan increased by 1.4 and 1.5 percentage points.

The export of overseas supplier countries slowed sharply

In November 2022, the United States' clothing imports from Vietnam showed a rare decline, with a year-on-year decrease of 4.3%. The United States and the European Union imported clothing from Bangladesh decreased by 9.8% and 3.5% respectively. The import of clothing from India by the United States and the European Union decreased by 11.8% and 18.5% respectively. The import of clothing from Cambodia by the United States and the European Union decreased by 24.1% and 5.3% respectively. After China, the decline in international market demand has also affected countries with relatively low costs. The overseas ready-to-wear manufacturing industry relies on fabrics imported from China. In the first three quarters of 2022, China's exports of fabrics to ASEAN increased by 22% year-on-year, while in the fourth quarter, there was a significant decline, with an increase of 0 in October, a decrease of 11% in November, and a decrease of 22.4% in December, which increased month by month. On the other hand, it shows that ASEAN clothing orders have entered the downward channel.

Looking forward to 2023, under the multiple impacts of intensified trade friction and "de-chinesization" of the supply chain, the trend of order transfer will intensify and the export of major overseas suppliers will increase rapidly. In 2022, Vietnam's textile and clothing exports reached US $44 billion, up 8.8% year on year. Vietnam's textile and clothing industry has put forward the goal of reaching a total export of US $46 billion to US $47 billion by 2023. China's clothing export industry will face more severe challenges. The downward pressure on exports in the first half of the year, especially in the first quarter, was great. At the same time, we should also see that China still has competitive advantages and occupies a core position in the global textile and clothing supply chain. With the domestic optimization of epidemic prevention and control measures and the gradual return of international exchanges to normal, China's economy will achieve an overall improvement in 2023, providing strong support for stabilizing foreign trade.