So far, China’s textile industry’s total exports have shown a negative growth trend. In the first five months of this year, China’s total textile and apparel exports fell by 2.3% year-on-year, but the decline has narrowed compared with last year and since the beginning of this year. The industry predicts that the pressure on China’s textile exports will increase in the second half of this year, but there is still momentum to support it.
The reporter learned from the China National Textile and Apparel Council on the 4th that the main reason for the continued negative growth in total exports of China’s textile industry is the decline in China’s textile export prices. In the first four months, China’s textile and apparel export prices dropped by 4% year-on-year. However, at the same time, the competitiveness of China’s textile fabrics has improved due to the narrowing price difference between domestic and foreign cotton. This has also played a certain role in narrowing the decline in China’s textile exports.
Industry analysts believe that the world economic recovery has been slow this year and the recovery of external demand is still insufficient. Therefore, there are many uncertainties in the export prospects of China’s textile industry. Since the second quarter of this year, the RMB has continued to depreciate, and China’s state reserve cotton transactions have been active. Affected by factors such as the depreciation of the RMB and the stabilization of cotton prices, China’s textile exports are expected to benefit from it in the second half of the year.
In addition, it should be noted that the EU’s overall economy has been sluggish in recent years, and China’s textile and apparel exports to the EU have declined significantly. In the first five months of this year, China’s textile and apparel exports to the EU fell by nearly 4% year-on-year. In recent years, due to the active economic and trade relations between China and the UK, the proportion of Chinese textiles and clothing exports to the UK has increased. The UK is the largest market for Chinese textiles and clothing in the EU, and it is also a relatively stable market. Although China’s textile and apparel exports to the EU declined overall in the first five months of this year, they still maintained a growth rate of about 3% to the UK. However, after the British “Brexit” referendum, market instability factors have increased, which may affect China’s textile and apparel exports to the United Kingdom and the European Union.
