An overview of Chinese textile & apparel imports in 2012

01 Mar '13

2 min read

China imported US$ 19.94 billion worth of textiles and US$ 4.52 billion worth of apparels in 2012. Thus, textiles accounted for 81.5 percent of total Chinese textile and apparel imports, while clothing imports contributed the remaining 18.5 percent.

In the textile category, overall imports grew by 4.8 percent year-on-year. Yarn imports increased enormously by 22.6 percent year-on-year, while fabric imports declined by 4.8 percent y-o-y. Finished textile product imports dipped 2.2 percent y-o-y.

The surge in yarn imports was mainly due to a rise in cotton yarn imports, which grew by nearly 70 percent y-o-y to 1.528 million tons in 2012. However, synthetic yarn imports decreased by 12.7 percent y-o-y.

Among fabrics, modest growth was seen in imports of cotton fabric, while there was a decline in imports of all other fabrics.

Among finished textile products, the import of home textiles fell by 12.1 percent y-o-y, while imports of industrial textiles and non-woven fabrics decreased by 3.2 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

In the apparel category, the import value of woven and knitted garments rose by 13 percent y-o-y and 11.9 percent y-o-y, respectively, while the average unit price of imported garments increased by mere 0.9 percent y-o-y.

However, wool and leather apparel imports by China grew by 12.3 percent y-o-y, while imports of garment accessories increased by 10.3 percent y-o-y.

During the year, China’s cotton imports skyrocketed by 52.7 percent y-o-y to 5.137 million tons. The substantial increase in cotton imports was mainly due to a sharp decline in international cotton prices, which fell from US$ 2,810/ton in 2011 to US$ 2,299/ton in 2012, a decrease of 18 percent.

Total man-made fibre imports by China dipped 2.6 percent y-o-y in 2012, while import price fell by 1.9 percent y-o-y.

China’s wool and wool tops imports decreased by 4 percent y-o-y, while average price of imports fell by 3.5 percent y-o-y during the 12-month period.

Chinese silk imports during the year grew by 29.4 percent y-o-y, and their average import price too rose by 4.2 percent y-o-y.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - China

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