Status Quo of the Clothing Industry: An Overview of China's Clothing Exports from January to May

From January to May, the national apparel export was 52.58 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 2.5%, and the cumulative increase was 1.5 percentage points higher than that in April. Among them, the export of knitted garments increased by 6.6%, and the export of woven garments decreased by 4.6%.

I. Overview of exports 1. The EU market still showed no sign of improvement from January to May. The value of apparel exports to the United States and Japan was 9.6 billion and 8.5 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, both showing a slight increase, with growth rates of 6.2% and 4.7% respectively. The export situation of garments to the EU is still sluggish, and it is expected that the trend will not change in the first half of the year. The export volume will be 11.6 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 13.9%. In addition, the export situation of clothing to Russia and Australia is not very optimistic. Exports are basically the same as last year, with a slight increase of 0.04% and 1.8%.

2. The export situation of the major provinces and cities is not good. Guangdong's garment export ranks first, with exports falling slightly, with a 2.4% drop. Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Shanghai are ranked second to fourth, with exports increasing slightly, by 0.01%-1.5%; Ranked fifth, export growth was rapid, an increase of 16%.

2. Brief analysis of the situation From January to May, the textile and garment export situation can be summarized as a general downturn, but the export of finished goods (clothing, home textiles) is better than the export of semi-finished products (yarns, fabrics).

Looking at the finished products first, from March to August of last year, it was the peak period for the export of apparel and home textile products. The monthly increase in garment exports increased by more than 23%, and the monthly increase in home textile exports increased by more than 9%. If the export of apparel and home textile products can continue its current steady growth trend this year, it is expected that the increase in apparel exports will be 5%-8% for the whole year, and the increase in home textile exports will be more than 10%.

Secondly, semi-finished products are affected by the high price of domestic cotton. Exports of cotton yarn and cotton cloth are hindered, and domestic sales are not smooth at the same time. On the export side, the prices of cotton yarn and cotton cloth dropped by 14.9% and 12.1%, respectively. The export value still fell by 22.5% and 6.6% respectively. If there is no major adjustment in the domestic cotton policy, the situation of cotton yarn and cotton exports will decline this year. It is a foregone conclusion. On the import side, some apparel manufacturers recently reported that many companies have switched to directly importing cotton yarn, which is much lower than domestic prices, when imported cotton is blocked and domestic cotton prices are high. Customs data also confirmed this statement, from January to May, cotton yarn imports increased by 28%, the average import price of 3.3 US dollars / kg, 34% lower than China's average export price.