The China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association disclosed on the 8th that in terms of international trade, from the perspective of major export products, China’s exports of nonwovens, special yarns, threads, ropes, cables and their products valued at USD 3.52 billion from January to May, a year-on-year increase of 46.4 percent, of which the export of nonwovens was USD 2.04 billion, a year-on-year increase of 54.9 percent, and the export volume was 627,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 52.2 percent.

In addition, in the export of anti-pandemic materials, the export of chemical fiber nonwoven protective clothing (including medical protective clothing) was USD 1.43 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 34.5 percent; the export of unlisted textile products (including masks) was USD 6.01 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 75.1 percent.

 

In 2020, driven by the demand for pandemic prevention materials, China’s industrial textile industry experienced a round of rapid growth, which accumulated a large base for the development of the industry in 2021. Meanwhile, with the change of the global pandemic situation, the demand for pandemic prevention materials has dropped sharply, and the growth rate of the mask, protective clothing and related raw and auxiliary materials industry will see a sharp correction in 2021, leading to a decline in the growth rate of the main economic indicators of the whole industry.

 

According to the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association, with the continuous improvement of vaccine coverage and the recovery of global market demand, the areas related to pandemic prevention materials and non-pandemic prevention materials in the industrial textile industry are showing two distinct trends of development. The development of the relevant fields of pandemic prevention materials in the industry has gradually returned to the pre-pandemic level. The profitability of these fields continued to decline from January to May, but the average growth rate of the total profit of nonwovens enterprises above designated size in two years has reached 24.6 percent. The non-pandemic supplies sector has continued to recover, and most of them have recovered or even better than the pre-pandemic level. However, the rising costs of raw materials, labor, freight and other factors have put great pressure on the recovery of these sectors.

 

The China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association expects the industry’s overall profits to continue to decline for the rest of the year, compared with the same period last year, but margins will be better than before the outbreak.