The current overall foreign trade data of China’s textile industry is relatively impressive. Data from the General Administration of Customs shows that in RMB, China’s textile raw material exports increased by 65.6% in May this year, and from January to May, China’s textile raw material exports increased by 28.2%; in RMB, China’s textile yarn, fabrics and their The export value of finished products increased by 14.0%. From January to May, the export value of China’s textile yarns, fabrics and products increased by 10.0%.
But when it comes to different textile industry clusters, each has its own joys and worries. Keqiao District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province is an important textile raw material industry cluster in China and even the world. Here, textile foreign trade companies are troubled by rising costs, insufficient orders, and insufficient production. Cost reduction and finding orders have become top priorities.
Keqiao textile industry is huge
Textile index becomes industry barometer
One data shows that Keqiao’s textile industry is huge and its export scale is staggering. For the whole year of 2021, Keqiao District’s textile exports were 86.26266 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.1%. This huge scale is closely related to Keqiao’s high attention to the development status of the entire industry and its continuous introduction of many innovative measures to improve the quality of industrial services. On December 29, 2017, the group standard “General Requirements for Green Printing and Dyeing” jointly formulated by the China Institute of Standardization, Keqiao District Quality and Technical Supervision and Inspection Institute, etc. was officially released; in 2021, China Shaoxing Keqiao (Textile) Intellectual Property Rights were quickly safeguarded The center was put into use; Keqiao District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau also developed the China Textile Fabric Pattern Copyright Data Center and AI Comparison System.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the China Keqiao Textile Index continues to be compiled and released, playing the role of “industry weather vane and market barometer”. The official website of China Keqiao Textile Index shows that the index system covers price index, prosperity index, foreign trade price index and foreign trade prosperity index, etc. A reporter from the “China Trade News” for the compilation direction of the index said that the base period of the China Keqiao Textile Index is 2007, of which the base period of the foreign trade price index is 100 points, and the base period of the foreign trade prosperity index is 1,000 points. The foreign trade price index in April 2022 ( General category) is 145.07 points, and the foreign trade prosperity index (general category) in April 2022 is 824.96 points; in 2009, the sample was expanded according to the opinions of the Ministry of Commerce, and variable weights and fixed weights were combined in the process of compiling the index. By continuously improving the sample and weights to make this set of indices more realistic and instructive.
In practice, the compiler of this index found that this set of indexes is more useful in assisting government departments in macro-monitoring the industry, and is also helpful for large foreign trade companies to study the overall market conditions of the industry, but its reference value for individual merchants is relatively small. “According to our research, the operators of Keqiao China Textile City are very interested in direct quotations from upstream and downstream. Therefore, we publish daily textile raw materials and product quotations in a prominent position in the middle of the official website of China·Keqiao Textile Index. The raw materials in them are Prices are updated twice a week, and other product quotations are updated randomly. During the data collection process, we found that the prices of textile products generally do not change every day and are relatively stable; among them, the price of raw materials changes more, and the price of fabrics changes less.” The index is compiled Fang staff analyzed.
Businesses face rising costs
Difficulties with insufficient orders
The China Textile City in Keqiao has a large transaction volume and is of index significance. There are both foreign trade merchants and domestic trade merchants in the market, and some foreign trade merchants feel that this year’s market has indeed been affected.
When reporters contacted Keqiao textile foreign trade companies to inquire about this year’s foreign trade situation, they found that there were more people reporting worries and fewer reporting good news.
Shaoxing Xingming Dyeing and Finishing Co., Ltd. reported that the foreign trade market this year is not optimistic, mainly affected by factors such as the COVID-19 epidemic. Shaoxing Kuaiqing Trading Co., Ltd. reported that the foreign trade situation this year is not bad, and its products are mainly exported to Japan.
Shaoxing Bailiheng Printing and Dyeing Co., Ltd. revealed that this year’s foreign trade has been affected by the epidemic, and the market has been average. “It is not difficult to book shipping space at present, but shipping costs are high. Moreover, the cost of raw materials is high, and the price of natural gas has also increased, and the company is losing money every month. Now it’s ‘ There are less cakes, but there are many textile printing and dyeing factories that share the cakes, and some textile factories have to close their workshops.”
Gu Zhuowei, business manager of Zhejiang Huida Textile and Garment Co., Ltd., believes that the foreign trade market this year is okay. Products are exported to many countries, but they cannot get more ideal export prices. “We usually communicate with foreign merchants online and use email. Send contact emails to foreign merchants or participate in online and offline exhibitions, and strive to gain customers. Currently, it is impossible for foreign merchants to come to the site to see samples. We can send samples to foreign merchants by express. Fortunately, it is more convenient to send cross-border express delivery. .”
Another Keqiao printing and dyeing company, which did not want to be named, revealed that due to the epidemic, the company’s foreign trade this year has declined.The situation is not good, coupled with the sharp increase in raw material prices, the current purchasing power of foreign consumers is limited, which affects the company’s foreign trade orders. “Because the textile industry uses a lot of petroleum products, when the price of petroleum increases, the price of textile raw materials will also increase. It is not easy for our company to maintain an operating rate of about 70%. We maintain basic operations at a loss every day. We hope to survive this period. time, stabilize employees, and shoulder social responsibilities.” said a staff member of the printing and dyeing company.
It is understood that China Textile City has done a lot of work to combine online and offline operations and hedge against the impact of the epidemic. According to the management of the gray cloth market branch of Zhejiang China Textile City Group Co., Ltd., taking the gray cloth market as an example, the stores in the market are sample display points for manufacturers. When buyers take a fancy to the samples, they quote the purchase quantity. If the inventory is not enough, the company Can be reproduced.
At present, all markets in China Textile City are open for business normally. Domestic and foreign merchants can come to purchase smoothly as long as they have a negative nucleic acid report within 72 hours. They can also place orders on the official website of China Textile City, contact them by phone, etc. and mail samples. Possible ways. In addition, China Textile City has developed logistics services.
Improve quality rate and open up the industrial chain
There is still room for efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency
Wang Guohe, a professor at the School of Textile and Clothing Engineering of Suzhou University, analyzed the situation of Keqiao’s textile industry and said that if we need to find ways to reduce processing costs and improve the quality rate of finished products, fewer first-class products will result in lower profits and higher costs. Enterprises should strive to develop products with higher added value and increase profit margins.
Feng Cen, associate professor at the School of Textile and Clothing Engineering at Suzhou University, told reporters, “I understand that some domestic textile companies of a certain scale can negotiate with upstream and downstream suppliers when encountering rising prices of raw materials, so larger companies resist The ability to take this risk is strong. The supply chain of small textile companies is unstable, and it is difficult to share and reduce costs when the price of raw materials increases. In fact, some large international textile and apparel brands have designated suppliers in China, and have long ago Prices and quantities are locked. Domestic companies that receive orders from big international brands can just complete the orders according to quality and quantity requirements. These textile companies have endless orders. As for companies that are not large in scale and do not have stable orders, they will In agony.”
Feng Cen continued his analysis, “Keqiao Textile is generally in the mid-end printing and dyeing stage. The characteristic of printing and dyeing is that it must be sold quickly after printing, so the risk is greater in the middle end of the industrial chain. This is different from the more basic end of white gray fabrics. The products are different. White gray cloth is still in the raw material stage, just like a piece of white paper. It doesn’t matter if it is sold earlier or later, it has a wider application range.”
In response to the difficulties encountered by Keqiao textile foreign trade companies, the Zhejiang Printing and Dyeing Industry Association said frankly that at this time, we can better see the different impacts of product competitiveness on companies. Some companies’ products are more competitive, and their current life is easier; Compared with various reduction and exemption measures, the current focus is to find ways to help companies win orders. Otherwise, it will be difficult for companies to increase their operating rates when there is a lack of orders and sales. The association revealed that relevant local departments and grassroots industry associations are studying targeted solutions.
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