According to China Customs Statistics Express, in the first quarter of this year, my country’s textile and apparel exports were US$65.1 billion, an increase of 43.8% over the same period in 2020 and an increase of 15.6% over the same period in 2019. This shows that the competitive advantage of my country's textile and apparel industry chain supply chain provides strong support for the continuous and stable operation of foreign trade.
clothing exports present four main characteristics
Apparel exports are still growing rapidly compared to the same period in 2019
Affected by the epidemic, my country’s export base was low in the first quarter of last year, so the sharp increase in exports in the first quarter of this year is expected. But even compared with the same period in 2019, my country's clothing exports are still growing. In the first quarter of this year, my country's clothing exports were 33.29 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 47.7% over the same period last year and an increase of 13.1% over the same period in 2019. The main reason is that exports fell 21% in the same period last year, with a low base; the second is that the demand in major markets such as the United States has recovered rapidly; the third is that the supply of domestic products in the surrounding areas can not be restored, which promotes the rapid growth of our exports.
Apparel exports grow faster than textiles
Since March last year, my country’s textile industry chain has recovered rapidly, mask exports have started, and the base of last year’s textile exports has increased. Therefore, in the first quarter of this year, China’s textile exports increased by 40.3% year-on-year, which was lower than the 43.8% increase in clothing exports. Especially in March of this year, China's textile exports only increased by 8.4% that month, which was far lower than the 42.1% increase in clothing exports that month. Due to the decrease in international demand for anti-epidemic materials, our export of masks has been declining month by month. It is expected that in the second quarter, our textile exports will not have enough stamina, and the possibility of a year-on-year decline is higher.
China’s share in mainstream markets such as the U.S. and Japan has increased
In the first two months of this year, the U.S. imports of clothing from the world increased by only 2.8%, but its imports from China increased by 35.3%. China’s market share in the U.S. was 29.8%, a year-on-year increase of nearly 7 percentage points. In the same period, Japan's global imports of clothing increased by only 8.4%, but imports from China increased significantly by 22.3%, and China's market share in Japan was 55.2%, a year-on-year increase of 6 percentage points.
The growth of apparel exports fell in March, and the follow-up trend is not optimistic
In March this year, my country’s clothing exports were 9.25 billion US dollars. Although an increase of 42.1% over March 2020, it only increased by 6.8% over March 2019. The growth rate was much lower than the previous two months. In the first two months of this year, apparel retail sales in the United States and Japan decreased by 11% and 18% year-on-year, respectively. In January, apparel retail sales in the European Union fell by as much as 30% year-on-year. This shows that the global economic recovery is still unstable, and Europe and emerging economies are affected by the epidemic. Demand remains sluggish.
Clothing is an optional consumer product, and it will take time for international demand to return to normal levels in previous years. With the gradual restoration of the textile and garment manufacturing capacity of developing economies, the substitute role played by my country's garment industry in global production in the previous period is weakening, and the phenomenon of "return of orders" is unsustainable. Facing the export situation in the second quarter and even the second half of the year, the industry needs to remain calm, understand the situation, and not be blindly optimistic and relax.
Post time: Apr-21-2021