Indian orders return, and big orders are seen again. Is the spring of China's textile industry coming?

Overnight, China's textile industry suddenly blew a warmer breeze.

　　 At the China Oriental Silk Market in Shengze Town, Suzhou, which is the "first cloth city in China," cloth merchant Zhou Jianchun keenly discovered that the textile industry has begun a rapid recovery since September. In September, he received a foreign trade order of about 1 million meters, which is rare in the context of the overall pressure on the textile and apparel industry this year.

　　 But Zhou Jianchun's large order is not the most eye-catching in the industry. Hundreds of thousands of ZARA orders from a home textile factory in Jinhua, Zhejiang, are the key to making the entire industry boiling.

　　 In recent years, due to the soaring domestic labor costs and the repeated trade relations between China and the United States, a large number of low-end textile orders have been transferred to Southeast Asia, India and other countries in the past few years. This time, because many large-scale export textile companies in India were affected by the epidemic, the orders received were unable to produce normally, and a large number of orders had to be transferred to Chinese factories for production, and some companies even began to purchase directly in China.

　　 "There are about 100 factories in the New Delhi Development Zone in the capital that have not resumed work, mainly for garment and textile processing, and many people have switched industries." Doctor of International Relations of Peking University and director of the BRIC Think Tank in New Delhi, India happily told the media.

　　 is not only India. Since September, China's foreign trade orders have re-entered an active period, and the return of orders is obvious. On the domestic trade platform, Chinese textile companies that have received orders from India continue to "seeking help" from their peers to jointly produce.

　　 "From our research, some companies have reported that they transferred from India, but the industry is still relatively cautious." An official from the Industry Department of the China Home Textile Industry Association told reporters. It is understood that the recent foreign trade orders have entered an active period, and domestic companies are also preparing goods for Double Eleven. In order to ensure the completion of Indian orders, many factories in China have opened new production lines and expanded their employees several times. They work overtime every day. Production overnight.

　　 However, analysts also pointed out that the return of orders is only a short-term action. To ensure my country's position in the international market, the focus should be placed on high-end products, further increasing the irreplaceability of my country's textiles.

　　Order backflow

According to data released by Alibaba International Station, since May, the number of orders for fabrics and textile raw materials in China has increased by more than 100%; the number of orders in the apparel industry has increased by more than 200% year-on-year; on October 14, the Ministry of Commerce announced my country's 1-9 2020 According to the monthly foreign trade performance, in the first three quarters, my country’s total import and export volume was 23.12 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.7%. The cumulative growth rate turned negative to positive, and the scale of imports and exports and exports reached historical highs in the same period.

　　East Shenghong, a well-known textile leader in the industry, has been working overtime recently. Miao Yunlong, head of foreign trade in the chemical fiber sector, said that India’s textile orders have indeed played a significant role.

　　 It is understood that India is the world's largest cotton producer, the world's largest jute producer, and the world's second largest silk producer. Its yarn production capacity accounts for 22% of the world. In 2019, the size of the Indian textile and apparel market is around US$250 billion. The textile and apparel industry is also one of India's largest sources of foreign exchange income, accounting for about 15% of India's total export income. Between 2000 and 2018, foreign direct investment worth 2.97 billion U.S. dollars was attracted.

　　 However, after the outbreak of the epidemic, India’s prevention and control efforts were not satisfactory, which caused a great impact on the industrial chain. Many factories in India were unable to start construction as scheduled, so more and more textile orders were cancelled or moved to countries such as China.

　　 Unlike other countries, China has both raw materials and a large number of chemical raw materials. The supply chain is complete. This has also become one of the main reasons for the return of orders from India. At the same time, China has a high degree of industrial automation, which can complete orders in the shortest time, and through mechanized mass production, regardless of the supply of raw materials, the production cost will be cheaper.

　　 At present, many domestic textile and foreign trade factories are experiencing explosive orders, and even some factory orders have been scheduled until May next year.

"The transfer of orders and industries is a spontaneous market behavior. China has achieved remarkable results in scientifically coordinating epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, and has taken the lead in resuming work and production, which has effectively guaranteed international market supply and supported the smooth supply of international industrial chains. Operation. At present, almost every day in China, foreign trade orders from some industries and places are transferred to other countries and markets for production." said Li Xinggan, director of the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Commerce.

　　 In fact, since May, the textile and apparel industry has gradually improved.

"After May, exports have been recovering. The third quarter began to gradually level with the same period of last year. Exports in some regions were even higher than the previous year's growth. The export volume in August and September hit a record high. Many products are now available. Tension, coupled with the faster recovery of domestic market demand, there has been a queue of customers in both domestic and foreign trade recently," said Miao Yunlong.

　　 Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in the first three quarters of this year, the national textile and apparel exports amounted to US$215.78 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%, and the export growth rate was 6.2 percentage points higher than that in the first half of the year. From January to September, my country’s textile exports were US$117.95 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.7%, maintaining a relatively rapid growth trend, and the export growth rate increased by 5.9 percentage points compared with the first half of the year.

　　 The General Administration of Customs stated that since the second half of the year, the clothing export situation has continued to improve. In September, the clothing export value was 15.23 billion US dollars, an increase of 6.5% year-on-year, maintaining a positive growth trend for two consecutive months. At present, the relatively stable supply chain of my country's textile industry is also attracting some overseas orders to return.

Not only did Southeast Asia orders increase, but also benefited from the stocking of foreign Christmas season, some bosses also received many orders from European and American countries. A textile industry boss who does foreign trade said that he recently received 100,000 meters of cotton cloth and 200,000 meters of cotton from the United States. Orders for recycled pongee and peach skin were better in October than in the same period last year.

　　The industrial structure should be further optimized

　　In the opinion of analysts, orders will generally be one quarter in advance. At present, orders in the fourth quarter are basically completed. The epidemic in India is flourishing or will continue until the end of the year, so orders in the first quarter of next year will also remain at a relatively high level. Therefore, this recovery will last at least two quarters.

　　 But it should be noted that this is only a special period. Textile and garment enterprises in India and Southeast Asia have advantages in labor costs, energy costs, land costs, government taxes, tariffs, and environmental protection. As far as Southeast Asia is concerned, the gross profit margin of local textile and garment enterprises is 5 percentage points higher than that of domestic enterprises. Therefore, once the epidemic is over, these orders will return to India and Southeast Asia, and some orders may even default.

“At present, the demand side in Europe and the United States has not recovered yet, and demand cannot come. Whether it is Indian orders or domestic orders, they are short-term actions without long-term logic. Domestic companies also need to balance short-term interests and long-term strategies. In China, we cannot blindly expand production just because of new orders," said the analyst.

　　 In Miao Yunlong's view, at present, domestic textiles and garments have realized that low-end textiles are too saturated and have a low right to speak, and they have begun to develop in the direction of high-end. For example, conventional memory-like, pongee, and nylon fabrics are no longer popular, while new stretch fabrics like T400 and T800 are favored by designers.

“Many of high-end fabrics and functional fabrics can only be made in China. Because China’s industrial chain is complete, this ensures that these orders will not be taken away by other countries, and the profits are considerable. This is the advantage of the domestic textile industry. "Miao Yunlong said.

　　 Sun Ruizhe, chairman of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, also believes that domestic fabric companies should still take a differentiated route and enter the high-end field.

"The new crown epidemic has accelerated the start of a new cycle in the industrial economy. The domestic apparel industry is facing new challenges and changes. At the same time, the crisis is organic and the crisis can turn. In this process, leading apparel companies have been through digital transformation from point to point and from top to bottom. , It can be regarded as a realistic path leading the entire industrial ecology to digital, intelligent and integrated development." Sun Ruizhe said.

In addition, the current export cross-border e-commerce transaction scale continues to expand in the proportion of China’s export scale, and it has become a new growth point for "stabilizing foreign trade". Chinese local fashion e-commerce has ushered in an excellent opportunity to go overseas. It requires companies to deepen brand building and gradually change from "traffic". "Oriented" and "product-oriented" are transformed into "brand-oriented".

The relevant person in charge of the China Garment Association also said that at present, China's garment industry has entered a new development stage of strategic restructuring and innovative transformation, and has stood at a new starting point to participate in leading the global garment industry transformation, which can fully demonstrate my country's construction of a "double cycle" development. Development momentum released by the pattern.