The textile industry climbs over the hurdles and depends on domestic demand

  Our reporter Liu Jin

  Driven by the domestic demand market and superimposed on the return of overseas orders, the business situation of my country's textile industry gradually improved in the first half of the year, with steady growth in revenue and profit from negative to positive.

Data show that in the first half of 2021, the textile industry's operating income was 1,170.75 billion yuan, an increase of 18.9% year-on-year; the total profit was 44.6 billion yuan, an increase of 2.3% year-on-year.

  "The growth rate has not yet fully recovered, and the industry still needs to continue to work hard." At the recent video conference on economic operation analysis in the first half of 2021 held by the China Textile Federation, Sun Ruizhe, chairman of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, summarized the situation of the textile industry in the first half of the year.

  Outstanding performance of leading companies

  Xiao Xiao, a Beijing resident who originally liked to buy foreign brands for his children, told reporters: "Now the designs of domestic children's clothing are getting better and better, and there are actually many co-branded models."

  Thanks to the successful transformation, the domestic brand Peacebird's fashion level has been increasingly recognized among consumers, and its performance has continued to grow.

On August 31, Peacebird (603877) released the 2021 semi-annual report. During the reporting period, the company achieved a year-on-year increase of 55.88% in operating income; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies increased by 240.52% year-on-year.

  In the context of the rise of domestic products, leading companies have performed well.

As of September 1, the semi-annual reports of 43 domestic listed textile and apparel companies have been published, of which 37 shares of the net profit attributable to the first half of this year are profitable.

Specifically, of the 37 profitable stocks, 28 stocks are in a growth state, 22 stocks have increased attributable net profits in the first half of this year by more than 50% year-on-year, and 17 stocks have attributable net profits that have increased by more than 100% year-on-year.

  The revenue of domestic sports brands rose across the board.

Anta Sports achieved sales revenue of 22.812 billion yuan in the first half of the year, which not only continued to rank first in the domestic echelon, but also surpassed the revenue of Adidas in Greater China during the same period.

In addition, Li Ning's revenue in the first half of the year reached 10.197 billion yuan, Xtep International and 361 Degrees were 4.135 billion yuan and 3.107 billion yuan respectively.

  “In the first half of the year, the garment industry has recovered steadily, and garment output continued to rise.” Liu Jing, senior project director of the Industry Department of the China Garment Association, said that online sales in the domestic apparel market have maintained growth, and physical sales have improved significantly.

  According to Chen Xiaoqian, an analyst at the China Textile Federation Industrial Economic Research Institute, from the perspective of the entire industry, the growth rate of the textile industry's added value in the first half of the year was 9.6%, but the two-year average growth rate was 1.1%, which is lower than the growth rate of the same period in 2019, so it is judged Industry production is still in the recovery stage.

From the consumer perspective, the sales of clothing, footwear, and knitted textiles from January to July were 767.30 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.8%, which was 9.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods.

The two-year average growth rate was 3.5%, higher than the growth rate in the same period in 2019. Based on this judgment, the domestic consumer market has recovered and maintained good growth in the first half of the year.

  It is worth noting that the consumer market is showing characteristics such as active sales through online channels, frequent occurrences of sporadic and strategic explosives, prominent individual needs of consumers, and better consumer experience brought about by live broadcast e-commerce.

  In this regard, Sun Ruizhe said that my country's textile industry is showing a steady and positive development trend, with steadily improving development quality and efficiency, continuing to strengthen its role in the internal cycle, maintaining a good growth momentum in exports, and increasing investment confidence.

At the same time, affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the value reconstruction and responsibility of the textile industry are continuously being re-examined by all classes of society.

  The highest export in the same period

  With the slowdown of the epidemic in my country and the normalization of prevention and control as well as the continuous release of the dividends of stable foreign trade policies, the growth of my country's textile exports has been strongly supported.

In the first half of 2021, my country's textile and apparel exports hit the highest level in the same period in history.

  According to data from the General Administration of Customs, from January to June 2021, textile and apparel exports totaled US$140.086 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.90% and an increase of 12.76% over 2019.

Among them, textile exports were US$68.558 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 7.48% and an increase of 16.95% over 2019; clothing exports were US$71.528 billion, a year-on-year increase of 40.02% and an increase of 9.02% over 2019.

  From the perspective of the industrial chain, the rapid decline in the export of textile products (including masks) under my country's customs tariff number 63079000 is an important factor influencing the decline in textile exports in the first half of this year.

  In this regard, Chen Xiaoqian analyzed that in 2020, the demand for anti-epidemic materials will increase the demand for textiles, which will cause the proportion of textiles in export products to rise sharply, up to 60.3%; with the remarkable results of epidemic prevention in 2021, the current export products account for 47.7% of textiles and clothing. It accounted for 52.3%, which was basically adjusted to the pre-epidemic structure. Among them, the United States, the European Union, and Japan have seen a significant decrease in the import of masks from China.

  The export situation of clothing, home textiles and other industries continued to improve, and the export of major commodities such as chemical fibers, yarns, fabrics and textile machinery in the industrial chain also increased.

Yang Zhaohua, vice chairman of the China National Textile and Apparel Council and chairman of the China Home Textile Industry Association, introduced that in the first half of the year, the export of home textile products increased by 19.99% year-on-year compared with the same period in 2019. The growth was 53%, 48%, 14%, 58%, and 58% respectively.

From the perspective of subdivided product categories, exports are mainly the original products. In addition to the attributes of home textile products and consumer demand, they also benefit from the advantages of my country's industrial chain.

  From the perspective of export regions, in the first half of the year, the export of textiles and apparel in the western region of China grew strongly, and the export in the eastern region achieved growth.

From the perspective of the top five export provinces, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong, and Fujian in the order of export value were respectively 36.78 billion U.S. dollars, 22.66 billion U.S. dollars, 21.71 billion U.S. dollars, 13.53 billion U.S. dollars and 12.23 billion U.S. dollars. Increased 18.6%, 11.3%, 4.5%, 28.0% and 35.8%.

  The China National Textile and Apparel Council analyzed that the current epidemic is still spreading globally, the recovery of the world economy is unstable and unbalanced, the external environment facing China's textile exports is complicated, and the cost pressure of textile foreign trade enterprises is increasing. Comprehensive judgments, the whole year of 2021 Chinese textiles Clothing exports are still facing challenges.

  Domestic sales are steadily improving in the second half of the year

  In the first half of the year, the domestic market for textiles and apparel has steadily recovered, and its role in boosting the steady recovery of the industry’s economic operation has increased.

In the second half of the year, the textile industry is also looking forward to a better performance in the domestic market.

  Ding Sijia, deputy director of the Industry Department of the China Printing and Dyeing Industry Association, believes that the fourth quarter of each year is the traditional peak season for the printing and dyeing industry. It is expected that enterprises' orders will remain stable in the second half of the year, especially the domestic sales are expected to achieve a steady increase.

  Liu Jing analyzed that the recovery of the domestic macro economy has driven the simultaneous growth of residents’ income and the continuous improvement of consumer confidence. The rapid advancement of network technology and the vigorous rise of new consumer and new retail formats will inject strong impetus into the continuous innovation and development of the industry. The economic operation of my country's clothing industry is expected in 2021. The overall situation will be significantly better than 2020, showing a stable recovery and a steady and positive development trend.

  "In the second half of the year, the foundation for my country's macroeconomic recovery will continue to be consolidated, and domestic demand is expected to stabilize and improve." Niu Shuangxin, an analyst at the China Textile Federation Industrial Economic Research Institute, said frankly that the textile industry still faces risk factors. The market recovery has created shocks; the domestic epidemic situation rebounded, extreme weather and other factors have increased the pressure on production and sales of enterprises; the price of bulk commodities has fluctuated sharply, increasing the risk of textile raw material procurement.

  Niu Shuangxin predicts that the macro economy is expected to continue to recover in the second half of the year, the growth rate of demand will gradually return to normal, the development trend of textile industry repair is expected to continue, and the main indicators will show a trend of "high before and low" as the base increases.

  "In the latter part of the second quarter of this year, especially after July, the national industrial production, consumption, and fixed asset investment showed a slowdown in growth. This trend may continue in the second half of the year." Sun Ruizhe proposed that the textile industry should strengthen industrial transformation and upgrading in the next step. The development of work related to the linkage of regional development strategies must promote the advancement of the industrial base and the modernization of the industrial chain, as well as the overall promotion of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.

  In addition, he said that the textile industry must balance safety and development.

As the epidemic stabilizes, the global layout of the industry and the layout of the market will become prominent issues. It is necessary to stabilize the domestic scale and system advantages of textiles.