Looking at China’s supplier position from the 6th China & Asia Textile Forum 2018

May 10, 2018  |  by Flora



The 6th China & Asia Textile Forum 2018 was successfully held in Shanghai from March 12th to 13th, under such a background that as the largest player of global textile industry, China has the most complete industrial chain with the most complete categories. However, as the new round of industrial shifts of the textile and apparel industry, the textile industry of China is confronting the new challenges and opportunities.
 
This forum brought together the China government organizations, industry associations, international textile and apparel enterprises, textile manufacturers, leading apparel retailers. And they shared their brilliant opinions on the new changes of China’s procurement market, as well as the new technology challenges and industrial upgrading of textile and apparel production. Facing fiercer competition along with trade globalization, textile manufacturers have to figure out new approaches to closely cooperate with foreign suppliers and allocate production resources in the global market; with the complement of offline payment systems and the integration of online and offline sales as well as logistics, how the apparel retailers deal with the revolution of retail brought by New Retail; with the fast development of Southeast Asian textile industry, how apparel sourcing decision-makers come up with the best sourcing portfolio. All these hot issues were discussed in the forum.
 
Han Bekke, President of International Apparel Federation, made an opening speech, talking about the trends in Chinese and Asia textile and apparel markets, retail trends including digitization, sourcing trends, trade policy, manufacturing trends including innovation, and sustainability. He also put forward the challenges for the fashion sector, including digitize the supply chain; collect and use the data that is available throughout to improve margins; improve the industry’s social and environmental performance and improve its reputation; reduce fragmentation of rules and regulations; implement omnichannel sales capabilities; avoid (price) races to the bottom; improve the knowledge level in the industry; improve collaboration throughout the supply chain.
 
China remains the dominant supplier
Julia K. Hughes, President of United States Fashion Industry Association (USFIA), shared the trade policy in the Trump Administration, and the key findings for USFIA’s 2017 Benchmarking Study which is based on a survey of 34 executives at leading U.S. fashion companies (68% with 1,000+ employees; 19% with 101 - 500 employees; 13% with < 100 employees) from April to May 2017. The respondents represent various business types in the U.S. fashion industry: retailers, brands, importers/ wholesalers and manufacturers. The survey covers three topics: business environment and outlook, sourcing practices, and viewpoints on trade policy related to the fashion industry.
 
According to Julia, as for the sourcing practices, among the respondents report sourcing from 51 countries or regions in 2017, 8 out of the top 10 sourcing destinations are based in Asia, while China accounts for 91%, down from 100% in previous studies, Vietnam 88%, India 76%, Indonesia 73%, and USA 70% that is much higher than 52% in 2016. Sourcing from the Western-Hemisphere is growing in popularity, including USA and members of NAFTA and CAFTA-DR. “China + Vietnam Plus Many” is the most popular sourcing model. “China” typically accounts for 30 - 50 percent of a company’s sourcing portfolio. Only 19 percent of respondents source more than percent from China in 2017, down from 23 percent in 2016. “Vietnam” typically accounts for 11 - 30 percent of a company’s sourcing portfolio. “Many” include the United States, North America, South & Central America, Africa, and Europe. Each typically accounts for < 10 percent of a company’s sourcing portfolio. (Fig. 1 & 2)



 
Regarding China’s competitiveness, the respondents’ stated that “(Chinese factories) are the giant and will remain so for the foreseeable future. We will never be completely out of China due to their speed, ease of doing business. The only thing that could change that is a protectionist agenda.” “Speed to market is keeping China relevant in fashion apparel … China will remain competitive and continue to invest in technology to differentiate and compete.”
 
Sourcing trends for 2018 shows that China remains the dominant supplier, for 48% of U.S. total textile and apparel imports continue to come from China; 41% of U.S. apparel comes from China; even with shifts in sourcing patterns, no other country challenges China. Vietnam continues to grow, for Vietnam remains the third-largest supplier of textiles and apparel combined, and ranks second for apparel; Vietnam supplies almost 8% of total imports, and 13% of apparel; even without TPP, Vietnam market share continues to grow.
Justin Huang, President of Taiwan Textile Federation, also pointed out that China remained the top supplier of EU apparel in 2017 (with a 33.30% share, declined by 0.87% after decreased by 2.98% in 2016). EU Apparel imports increased by 5.28% to a record high of US$92.835bn in 2017. 7 of Top 10 EU Apparel suppliers in value was in Asia (71.44%, up by 0.22%): China (1, 33.30%), Bangladesh (2, 18.61%), India (4, 6.06%), Cambodia (5, 4.52%), Vietnam (6, 3.83%), Pakistan (7, 3.27%), Sri Lanka (10, 1.86%). (Fig. 3)



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US Apparel imports declined by 0.49% to US$80.287 bn in 2017. China remained the top supplier of US apparel in 2017 (with a 33.7% share, but decreased by -3.17%). It is the lowest share within the 3 years.
 
China textile and apparel imports and exports
According to Justin Huang, total value of textile & clothing imports in 2017 reached US$24.553 billion, increased by 5.27%. 6 of Top 10 Suppliers was in Asia (43.28% share): Vietnam (1), Japan (2), Korea (4), India (5), Indonesia (6), Bangladesh (8). The share of Vietnam was 14.66% with a sharp increased by 22.78%. China has imported more textiles than apparel, and the growth rate of knitwear was 15.90%. (Fig. 4)


 
As for the exports, the apparel export declined, while textiles export increased. China textiles and apparel exported US$268.596 billion in 2017, increased by 0.81%. Exported to EU accounted for US$48.862 billion with 18.19% share, while ASEAN accounted for US$34.749 billion with 12.94% share. Exported to U. S. accounted for US$45.393 billion with 16.90% share. Exported to Japan accounted for US$20.324 billion with 7.57% share and Vietnam accounted for US$13.152 billion with 4.90% share. Yarns and fabrics exports increased by 7.8%, 4.05% respectively. Apparel exports decreased by 1.43%, while woven wear up by 1.05%, but knitwear declined by 5.82%. (Fig. 5)


In his speech, Justin Huang also pointed out challenges of China apparel industry, including rising labor costs and contracting labor pool, as well as strategy and focus in the following aspects:
l Building brands.
l Buying brands (Shandong Ruyi acquired Bally, A&AT – Lycra, etc.).
l Investing overseas (Going Global) Move to countries in South-East Asia and South Asia where wages are lower than in China (Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Bangladesh, … and to benefit from Preferential Trade Agreement with EU and USA. Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar benefit from duty-free access to the EU through EU’s GSP EBA arrangement and Vietnam stands to gain from an FTA. Some are looking to invest in African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, …)
l Manufacturing products of higher added value.
 
Highlights of the forum
  • Powerful supporters from Major Asian Textile Associations like China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India;
  • Wonderful Keynote Speeches from Leading Textile and Apparel Brands like Wal-Mart, Marks and Spencer, Li & Fung Group, Orient International, Raymond Limited and so on;
  • Hot issues and topics shared in this forum: International Trade Environment Analysis and Its Impact on Textile Industry, Sourcing Shift of International Apparel Brands, Digital Textile and Apparel Supply Chain, E-Commerce’s Impact on Apparel Business, ect.;
  • 300+ corporate executives and sourcing decision makers from worldwide textile and apparel companies;
  • Characteristic matchmaking section between textile manufacturers and international apparel brands;
  • Panel discussion: There were two groups of panel discussion in the Forum. Nguyen Binh An, Secretary-General of Vietnam Cotton & Spinning Association, Arvind Sinha, President of The Textile Association (India), Faruque Hassan, SVP of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, and Khin Maung Aye, Board Member Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, as a group, talked about the “Emerging Features in Global Textile and Apparel Sourcing”. In the second group, Candy Ma, CEO of C&H Garments Factory, Lwanda, Feng Yang, General Manager of Jining Qiqi Garment Co., Ltd., and Qian SUN, Vice General Manager of Shartex International Trading Co., Ltd. talked about “Under the New Situation, How China Stay the Competitiveness in Global Textile and Apparel Manufacturing?”
 
 
 
 

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