Since mid-to-late May, the epidemic situation in my country’s main garment production areas has gradually improved. With the support of stabilizing foreign trade policies, various regions have actively resumed work and production. External demand in major foreign markets has recovered steadily, and products that were hampered in domestic exports in the early stage were shipped intensively, driving the rapid growth of textile and apparel exports that month. According to customs statistics, clothing (including clothing accessories, the same below) exports in May were US$15.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 24.9%, an increase of 22.5 percentage points from the previous month, and the highest single-month export growth this year. From January to May, the cumulative exports of clothing were US$62.22 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%.
01
The export of knitted garments has good growth momentum
From January to May, the year-on-year growth rate of the main export products knitted and woven clothing was higher than the average growth rate; the exports of fur leather and plastic rubber clothing both fell by more than 60%. Knitted garment exports totaled US$28.15 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%. The growth rate slowed down compared with last year’s 42% growth rate. The export of woven garments was US$21.66 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.4%. The export is characterized by a decrease in volume and an increase in price. The export quantity decreased by 7.5% year-on-year, and the price increased by 26.9% year-on-year. Exports of clothing accessories were US$5.55 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.9%. Exports of plastic and rubber clothing were US$2.13 billion, down 64.2% year-on-year, of which exports of medical gloves fell sharply by 80.5%. Fur leather apparel exports were US$220 million, down 60.5% year-on-year. The main reason for the decline was that exports to Russia dropped sharply by 81.2%.
02
Exports of outdoor commuting clothing are growing rapidly
As overseas epidemic control is generally relaxed, exports of outdoor and commuting clothing have grown rapidly. From January to May, exports of coats and cold-proof clothing increased by 45.6%, and exports of dresses, shirts, sweaters, and sportswear/swimwear increased by 30.7%, 32.9%, 26.2%, and 23% respectively. Due to the large base last year and the reduced purchase demand this year, the growth of home clothing has slowed down significantly. The export growth rate of underwear, pajamas, bras, etc. is around 10%.
03
Exports to the United States and Europe grew steadily
Exports to Japan decline
From January to May, China’s apparel exports to the four major markets, the United States, the European Union, Japan and ASEAN, were US$14.93 billion, US$11.71 billion, US$5.47 billion and US$5.78 billion respectively, an increase of 12.5%, 17.9%, -7.6% and 26.3% respectively. %. Except for the significant decline in exports to Japan, the growth rates of exports to other major markets were higher than the average growth rate.
From the perspective of major export regions, exports to Latin America increased significantly by 36.1%, exports to Africa increased by 3.4%, and exports to countries along the “Belt and Road” increased by 15%. From a single country market perspective, exports to South Korea and Australia increased by 3.3% and 13.8% respectively, while exports to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Russia decreased by 9.6%, 9.2%, and 34.4% respectively.
04
Zhejiang and Shandong have good growth momentum
Regions affected by epidemic return to positive growth
As the epidemic gradually eased in some areas, garment exports from Guangdong, Jiangsu, Fujian, and Shanghai reversed the decline in exports in April. In May, exports increased by 3.2%, 42.9%, 1.8%, and 11.8% year-on-year respectively. Exports from Zhejiang and Shandong continued to maintain rapid growth, with growth rates of 38.5% and 50.5% respectively.
Cumulatively from January to May, Zhejiang’s export volume was US$12.58 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29.1%, accounting for more than 20% of the country’s apparel export share. Guangdong’s exports fell by 1.9%, a sharp decline compared with last year’s 29.1% growth rate. Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian and Shanghai ranked third to sixth respectively, with exports increasing by 9.1%, 21.6%, 4.2% and 3.7% respectively. The central and western regions such as Xinjiang, Jiangxi and Hunan were less affected by the epidemic, and their exports grew rapidly, with increases of 87.3%, 42.4% and 69.2% respectively.
05
Chinese apparel’s share of U.S. share accelerates decline
The EU and Japan are relatively stable
Judging from the share of Chinese clothing in the main export market, from January to April, China accounted for 22.2%, 28.1%, and 54.4% of the clothing import market share of the United States, the European Union, and Japan respectively. Among them, the market share in the United States and the European Union decreased by 6.5 and 0.2 percentage points year-on-year, while the market share in Japan increased by 0.2 percentage points year-on-year. From January to April, Vietnam’s market share in the United States increased by 1.8 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Bangladesh’s market share in the United States, the European Union, and Japan increased by 2.7, 4.3, and 1.2 percentage points respectively compared with the same period last year.
06
International demand continues to recover
Against the background that the world is generally unblocking from the epidemic, international demand continues to recover. Looking at clothing imports from major global markets, from January to April, clothing imports from the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and South Korea all achieved double-digit growth, with increases of 15.7%, 12.6%, 22.4%, and 16.7% respectively. Imports from Canada and Australia increased respectively. 7.1% and 5.4%. Due to the depreciation of the yen, Japan’s clothing imports fell by 7.1% in US dollars from January to May, but still increased by 4.5% in yen terms.
07
Trend Outlook
In the first half of this year, external demand generally improved. Although some domestic exporting provinces and cities caused a temporary decline in exports due to the epidemic lockdown, they quickly resumed work and production after the lockdown was lifted, and logistics returned to smooth flow, reflecting the strong resilience of the supply chain. Clothing exports are expected to maintain a steady growth trend in the first half of the year. In the second half of the year, the impact of the epidemic has lowered the overall track of world economic growth, global inflation is still high, the uncertainty of the Ukraine crisis, and the implementation of the U.S. “Xinjiang-related Act” may trigger a series of negative impacts. Under the combined influence of multiple factors, the global economic situation increasingly serious. In June, the World Bank lowered its 2022 global economic growth forecast to 2.9%. The world economic recession will lead to a contraction in external demand. It is expected that my country’s clothing exports will increase in the second half of the year.��It will face many risks and challenges and the downward pressure will increase.
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