Influenced by the general weak consumption of all countries, the export competition of China knitting industry intensified dramatically in 2015. The whole industry ran steadily with a growth in spite of the industrial transfer or overseas relocation that was gradually showing up to respond to the trade protectionistic arrangements by the developed countries. How shall we strengthen product development in the research and upgrade endeavors? How shall we make use of the new bonus system to achieve foreign trade growth? How shall we exploit the flexibility in knitting process technologies for the products in rich varieties and qualities to form long-tail advantages in the internet platform? All of these questions have become the hot topics in the industry’s future growth.

 

According to National Bureau of Statistics, there are 5,738 enterprises above the designated size in knitting industry (747 enterprises running under deficit), the main business income was 644.1 billion yuan and increased by 3.67% compared with the same period of last year’s 621.3 billion yuan. To be more exact, the knitting garment increased by 4.94%, the knit-fabric was up 2.17%. The accumulative total profit in the whole industry amounted to 34 billion yuan with an increase by 5.4% year on year, enjoying a growth of 1.76 billion yuan over last year. From table 1, we can see there’s a decline in export delivery value, and the increase of the main business income was mainly driven by growth of domestic sale.

 

Industry	No. of enterprises	No. of losses	Loss rate %	Main business income			Total profit			Losses in value			Export delivery value
				This month	Last year	Rate ±%	This month	Last year	Rate ±%	This month	Last year	change ±%	This month	Last year	Rate ±%
Textile industry	38747	4913	12.68	63714	6669	5.02	3326	3113	6.83	186	195	-4.84	8503	8734	-2.65
Knit-fabrics	2395	242	10.10	2864	2804	2.17	163	149	8.89	4	4	-9.22	524	540	-2.92
Knitting garments	3343	505	15.11	3577	3409	4.91	177	173	2.47	10	9	9.77	1247	1248	-0.03

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics

 

In 1-11 months 2015, the total actual investment in fixed assets of the enterprises above the designated size was 105.3 billion yuan, up 18.8% year on year with 1,921 new projects, so we are of full confidence in investment.

From figures in table 2, we can see that the investment in knit-fabrics was up 14.8% in contrast to 22.7% of the knitting garment sector which we have more confidence in. This sector, in the transition period of transformation and upgrade, is backed up by a series of measures and inputs for promoting the production efficiency that will be gradually released on a significant outcome.

 

Industry	Actual completed investment	Construction projects	New projects	Finished projects	Increased rate of actual completed investment compared with last year,%	Increased rate of Construction projects compared with last year,%	Increased rate of new projects compared with last year ,%	Increased rate of finished projects compared with last year
Knit-fabrics	505	1169	1020	708	14.78	8.74	17.92	14.75
Knitting garment	548	1132	901	716	22.74	8.85	14.49	21.56

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics

 

In 1-11 months 2015, the production of knitting garment enterprises above the designated size declined slightly, down by 0.69% year on year with 13.03 billion units in accumulative productions this month(See table 3.) From the top-producers standings, the traditional five provinces (Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai city)were still in the top five positions, but Shanghai declined fast, down by 10.22%. Zhejiang remained firm in the first threes despite its negative growth.

 

Name	No. of enterprises	No. in this month	Year on year growth ±%
Garment	10701	278.8	2.15
Woven garment	7426	148.4	4.78
Knitting garment	4146	130.3	-0.69

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics

 

Exports: the knitting fabrics increased while the knitting garments declined year on year

The development of knitting industry saw some changes after successive two years of one hundred billion breakthroughs in export. According to the General Administration of Customs, the total export of knitting industry (including accessories of knitting garments) was USD 88.78 billion by the end of November 2015, down by 8.9% year on year. It was expected that there’s some difficulty in breaking through a hundred billions of dollars (see graph 1). The export value of the knit-fabrics was USD 13.37 billion, up 3.34% in contrast to USD 64 billion of the knitting garment, down by 11.89% year on year, see graph 4. The knitting garment export is the weatherglass which affects the export of the knitting industry and the decrease in the number of knitting garment export directly affects the data performance of the knitting industry.

 

图片1

2015年11月：November 2015

累计金额：Accumulative value

同比增速：Year on year growth rate

 

Classification	Unit	Accumulative amount	Accumulative value	Average unit price(USD)	Quantity year on year rate %	Value year on year rate %	Unit price year on year rate %
Knit-fabrics	One hundred million meters	99.3	133.7	1.35	6.43	3.34	-2.88
Knitting garment	One hundred million pieces	176.8	640.0	3.62	-12.8	-11.89	1.12

Data resource: General Administration of Customs

 

From export data in knitting garment industry, we can see that the global consumption was underpowered to the exception of the American market that saw a growth, up 7.5% year on year. While EU, Japanese and ASEAN markets all fell to a certain degree, the ASEAN market declined more drastically than the others in both quantity and unit price, and the export value dropped at the rate of 26.81%. According to the data, the knit garment export volume to Vietnam and Hong Kong ran into a significant decline, down 24.98% and 38.23% respectively. Meanwhile, both the export and import of to and from Vietnam in knit-fabrics trade witnessed an increase, up 23.46% and 159.57% respectively. Moreover, the knitting garment imported from Vietnam increased by 26.59% year on year, therefore, Vietnam will become one of the most eye-catching countries for production layout in the knitting garment industry.

 

According to the General Administration of Customs, the total import of the knitting industry was USD 3.77 billion by the end of November 2015, up 0.5% year on year. Specifically, the accumulative import of the knit-fabrics was USD 1.68 billion, down 10.25% year on year in contrast to USD 1.89 billion of the knitting garment with 11.2% of the growth rate.(See table 5.) Vietnam surpassed Italy and other countries to be the No.1 in import value. At the same time, North Korea, Cambodia and Indonesia enjoyed a rapid growth.

 

Classification	Unit	Accumulative amount	Accumulative value	Average unit (USD)	Quantity year on year rate %	Value year on year rate %	Unit price year on year rate %
Knit-fabrics	One hundred million meters	10.2	16.8	1.65	-12.82	-10.25	3.13
Knitting garment	One hundred million pieces	2.8	18.9	6.77	10.09	11.2	0.89

 

The international market is difficult to increase greatly as affected by the continuous fatigue of global economy in 2016 and the main power in the industrial development will rely on domestic market driven by supply-front reform. Industrial transfer inspired by international resource allocation will be more clearly reflected in the data. For China knitting industry, how to respond to various layouts and competitions allocated by developed countries in ASEAN will be a question that is worthy of attention and thinking. China is active to found the FTA (free trade area) and formulates a variety of supporting policies for cross-border e-commerce,making it possible for the foreign trade enterprises in our knitting industry to apply its own technological advantages and fully enjoy the system dividend to form the long-tail power through internet.

 

Knitting products have a large potential growth in market as they cater to the consumers’ lifestyle for a healthy and Nature-admiring trend the people in knitting industry should seize this cooling-off period to promote and make breakthroughs in aspects of knitting garment design and R & D on pattern in the spirit of artisanship.