A positive growth of 9.6 percent! In 2020, China’s textile and apparel exports totaled USD 291.22 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.6 percent, driving a 1 percent increase in national exports of goods.

The stability of export competitiveness is the epitome of the in-depth adjustment and improvement of the development of China’s textile industry. On February 15, at the 15th Annual  Conference of the China Textile Roundtable Forum hosted by the China National Textile and Apparel Council, Gao Yong, Party Secretary and Secretary-General of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, stated that despite the impact of the pandemic, The total volume of textile industry declined year-on-year, but benefiting the advantages of online sales, intelligent manufacturing and stable supply chain of the industrial chain, the textile industry still has outstanding performance in the operation:

 

In terms of growth rate, from January to November last year, the growth rate of industrial added value of textile enterprises above designated size rebounded by 13.4, 3.6, and 1.5 percentage points from the first quarter, the first half of the year, and the first three quarters; from the perspective of profit, from January to November last year, the sales profit margin of the enterprises above designated size was 4.3 percent, which was not only a significant improvement from the 2.2 percent at the end of February, but also an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the same period last year.

 

Benefiting from the rise of online sales, the domestic market for China’s textile industry recovered in the second half of last year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the year-on-year decline in retail sales of clothing, footwear, hats and knitted textiles of enterprises above designated size gradually narrowed from more than 30 percent at the beginning of the year to 7.9 percent in the previous November.

 

Driven by the pandemic prevention materials such as masks and protective clothing, the export competitiveness of China’s textiles is stable, and the export scale is close to the record set by the industry in 2014.

 

“In terms of scale, China’s total fiber processing currently accounts for about 50 percent of the world’s total, chemical fiber output accounts for about 70 percent, and total exports account for about 1/3. In terms of varieties, output quality, production efficiency, independent technology and equipment, etc., China’s textile industry chain has generally reached the international advanced level. The report “Strategic Research on Promoting the Building of a Manufacturing Power towards 2035” issued by the Chinese Academy of Engineering not long ago shows that China’s textile industry is one of the most advanced industries in the world.” Gao Yong said.

 

“How can the textile industry develop with high quality during the 14th Five-Year Plan period? The key is to strengthen independent innovation of cutting-edge technology, brand and fashion soft power, green development leadership, control ability of international supply chain, etc., strengthen the advantages of the manufacturing system, and solve the shortcomings of the industrial chain supply chain.” Gao Yong said.

 

“The textile industry should realize the upgrade from ‘made’ to ‘made fine’, and truly realize precision manufacturing, green manufacturing, and intelligent manufacturing.” In the opinion of Shan Zhongde, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, we should continue promote the research and development of intelligent high-quality textile equipment, improve efficiency, performance and digital level, truly realize automatic perception, intelligent decision-making, and automatic execution. At the same time, actively develop service-oriented textile manufacturing and promote personalized customized production models.

 

The quality of textile products is better, and the research and development of fine processing technology for the entire industry chain shall be strengthened to expand the market with high-end products. “We should integrate new materials, new technologies and domestic consumption upgrades, develop high-end textile products with high comfort, easy care, antibacterial health and other multi-functions, continuously improve quality and technological added value, and open up new markets.” Gao Yong said.