The global textile machinery market is predicted togrow at a healthy rate of 13.8 per cent in the next five years. This will be onaccount of the healthy growth in the textiles and apparel industry itself,besides increasing demand of technical textile products across various sectorsin emerging economies. A Market Intelligence, Fibre2Fashion report.

Thetextiles industry was among the worst affected during the global economicdownturn in 2008, rendering textiles in majority of nations to be one of the mostresilient sectors. The challenging market environment and economic conditionsresulted in production cutbacks, layoffs and postponement of new investments.All these factors affected major textile machinery exporting countries such asChina, Switzerland, Italy and Germany, and resulted in drastic declines intheir export figures. Economic recovery in 2010 brought about a resurgence inthe textile machinery industry as improving business climate and newerinvestments by major textiles players in emerging manufacturing destinationscreated fresh orders for the many textiles machinery manufacturers.

Withfurther improvement in the economic condition across the world, many developingnations such as Turkey, India, China, Vietnam and Brazil became the new manufacturinghubs for the textiles industry. This shift in the manufacturing destinationattracted attention of many European and other machinery companies such asItema Group, Murata Machinery Ltd, Rieter AG, Savio Macchine Tessili SpA.,Lonati SpA., Toyota Industry Corporation, Willi Grob AG, Mayer & Cie GmbH& Co.

Current global textile machinery market scenario

Theglobal textile machinery market is estimated to grow at a promising rate of13.8 per cent from 2015 to 2020, owing to healthy growth in the textiles andapparel industry, and increasing demand of technical textile products acrossvarious sectors in emerging economies. Asia Oceania dominated the globaltextile machinery market representing 89 per cent of the global market followedby Europe, Rest of the World (RoW) and North America with respective marketshares of 7.6 per cent, 2.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent in 2014.

Asia-Oceaniais expected to be the growth driver and a major revenue pocket for textilemachinery manufacturers between 2015 and 2020. The demand for textile machineryin the region is estimated to grow at a healthy CAGR of 14.7 per cent, thehighest growth among all the regions across the world. The major factors behindthe strong growth are increasing textiles and apparel production in the regionand modernisation of equipment and machineries in the major textilesmanufacturing nations such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and many others.

 

The brightest spot in the global textile machinery market

Asia-Oceania represented the largest market share of 89 per cent in the global textile machinery market in 2014. China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh are the main contributors to the market. The textile machinery market of Southeast Asia had a market share of 13.5 per cent and 15.1 per cent in the global and Asia-Oceania markets respectively in 2014. Spinning machinery had the highest share of 94.5 per cent in the Asia-Oceania textile machinery market of 2014.

 

 

Asia-Oceania has the highest number of spinning and weaving mills in the world. Thus, Asia-Oceania had the highest installed capacity of spinning and weaving machinery, with a share of 83.4 per cent and 81.7 per cent respectively in the global installed capacity in 2014. The higher volume of installed capacity of spinning and weaving machinery in Asia-Oceania is the result of growing production volumes of yarn and fabrics in the region. Asia-Oceania has been a key region in trading of textile machinery. Spinning machinery had the highest share of 26.4 per cent in the global import of textile machinery in 2014, and is expected to continue till 2020.

 

Growth drivers and restraints

The demand for textile machinery is driven by several factors such as strong growth in the textiles and apparel industry, increasing technological innovations, and purchase of new machinery. Post-recession purchase of new textile machinery has emerged as one of the major growth drivers in several Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh and others in the region which upgraded their traditionally used older methods for spinning, weaving and knitting of textile fabrics in order to meet increasing demand and compete efficiently with other textile manufacturing nations globally. Strong growth in the textiles and apparel industry is another major driver of the global machinery market.

 

However, the cyclic nature of the textile machinery industry and demand for used machinery in the new manufacturing hubs such as India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and others are two of the major restraints for growth of the new textiles machinery industry. Budget constraints and looming uncertainty in the textiles market of these countries do not favour high investments in purchasing new machines supplied by leading European manufacturers. Rather, it encourages textile companies in these nations to buy second-hand machinery from textiles manufacturers in the western part of the world. The buying of used machinery is advantageous in many ways. The buyer can control the investment amount, as machines are sold at throwaway prices. Once they are renovated, they become as good as new. In addition, used machines can be quickly made available, thereby enabling companies to remain competitive by making small investments.

 

Trends in the textile machinery market

Asia-Oceania represents the biggest and fastest growing region for textile machinery. Increasing investments in textile production in the Asian region fuels the market for textile machineries. Asian countries such as India, China and Pakistan became the favourable market for textile machinery due to the shift in manufacturing operations from the European Union and United States to amass cost benefits. Industrialisation and economic development in countries such as China and India during the recent past have enhanced their textile production. Industrial development plans in these nations focuses much more on technological advancement of their textiles industry foreseeing the future demands and market scenario. India aims to make enormous gains in the export of textiles and clothing in the coming years.

 

Rolf Strebel, CEO of the Staubli Group, a renowned mechatronics solutions provider, tells Fibre2Fashion that there would be a drastic evolution in the global machinery market. "There will almost certainly be further consolidation as we go along. In fabric manufacturing, countries like India or others within the region are well poised to profit from global demands and requirements. India has the potential to grow its textile industry, particularly if investment activities in latest textile machinery or automation processes are sustained on a high level."

Manufacturers having operations close to retail distribution centres will be given more preference as they minimise the delivery time. Strebel observes the nature of global consumers. "In general, I would point out that global consumers of textiles are very cost-conscious. They take quality for granted and expect rapid adoptions to their fashion and altering clothing requirements. Markets become more global, which means that production units have to streamline their operations more and more using automated machinery to maintain repeatability and reproducibility at highest quality and lowest cost. Quick response to changing requirements has to be at the forefront of leaders in the textile industry."

 

With a demand for high performance fabrics increasing day by day, textile finishing machinery is likely to become more significant.