The Internet era has arrived with great strides. Under the new economic normal, what kind of situation is China’s textile and apparel industry facing? Standing under the trend of “Internet +”, huge opportunities and risks are hidden in it. Where should China’s textile and apparel industry go? On November 21, at the China Garment/Home Textile Export Enterprises Annual Meeting and Entrepreneur Summit Forum, Jiang Hui, President of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, expressed his opinions on the current situation, characteristics, and future development trends of China’s textile exports.
“The textile industry has always occupied a very important position in China’s foreign trade. However, judging from the current foreign trade operation situation, the situation faced by my country’s foreign trade development this year is more complex and severe than that in 2014. The textile industry has also been affected by this. This year, my country Textile and apparel exports experienced negative growth for the first time since 2010.” Regarding the current status of my country’s textile exports, Jiang Hui said that textiles will face greater downward pressure, but the overall operation is stable and the number of employees is relatively stable.
It is understood that from January to October this year, China’s textile and apparel exports totaled US$234.98 billion, a decrease of 5.4%. Among them, textile exports were US$91.06 billion, down 1.9%; clothing exports were US$143.92 billion, down 7.5%. Currently, my country’s textile and garment industry employs about 30 million people, including 10 million in enterprises above designated size and 20 million in enterprises below designated size. Retail sales have increased year-on-year, and the overall operation in the first eight months of this year has been stable, basically the same as last year or slightly increasing. Among them, the industrial added value of enterprises above designated size increased by 6.7% year-on-year, clothing retail sales increased by 10.5% year-on-year, fixed asset investment increased by 15.8% year-on-year, and profits increased by 9.3%.
In Jiang Hui’s view, the current status of my country’s textile exports shows four major characteristics. “The polarization of enterprises is obvious, and orders and profits are concentrated in large and medium-sized advantageous enterprises. Just like among the top 100 enterprises in clothing production value, the scale of the top 50 enterprises continues to grow, while the scale of the bottom 50 enterprises decreases. Whether it is an export enterprise or a production enterprise, Large enterprises are getting stronger and stronger, while backward enterprises are being eliminated at an accelerated pace. This is a normal reflection of the market elimination of backward production capacity and industrial transformation and upgrading. At the same time, affected by multiple factors, industrial transfer has become obvious, and enterprises have accelerated their globalization layout.”
“In addition, China’s trade cooperation with developing countries has been deepened. Currently, ASEAN is China’s largest yarn export market and largest fabric export market. Calculated by a single country, Vietnam is China’s largest fabric export market Export destination countries. At the same time, a group of outstanding enterprises that are brave enough to explore have stood out in the acceleration of transformation and upgrading, and a large number of advantageous enterprises are showing great vitality in their exploration and attempts to extend to both ends of the smile curve of the value chain.” Jiang Hui said.
Facing the wave of “Internet +”, Jiang Hui also put forward his own suggestions on the future development trend of the textile industry. He said: “We must actively implement the transformation and upgrading development strategy, strengthen personalized customization and intelligent production, pay attention to environmental protection, TPP and reverse forcing mechanisms. At the same time, we must strive to develop cross-border e-commerce, build B2B platforms, build e-commerce platforms, and optimize resources Configuration, promote online marketing, make full use of the opportunities of the ‘Belt and Road’, and promote mutual benefit and win-win among enterprises, economic integration, and trade globalization.”
Jiang Hui has full confidence in Lanxi textile industry. “Lanxi is an important export base for denim fabrics in my country. The annual output of denim fabrics ranks first in Zhejiang Province. Denim fabric exports increased by nearly 40% this year, and the total output accounts for 10%-15% of the world’s total output. Moreover, Lanxi has obvious location advantages. We should give full play to the demonstration and leading role of industrial clusters and jointly build China’s denim fabric export base.”
So, how should Lanxi, which has such a large-scale textile industry, go global? Jiang Hui said: “Lan Xi can just be herself.”
