'China's dominance in global textile industry to continue'

20 Mar '14

2 min read

It would be difficult to shake the dominance of the Chinese textile industry in the world market, at least in the short-term, according to experts.

In 2013, China’s textile and garment export trade was US$ 284.07 billion, turning out to be the third largest export industry of China, according to the Chinese customs statistics.

For 18 consecutive years since 1994, the Chinese textile and clothing industry has stood first in global export ranking, with its share in world trade rising from 12.5 percent to 36 percent by 2012.

Over the years, the volume of processing trade, which involves import of raw material for processing or manufacturing finished goods for export, in China’s textile and clothing exports has declined significantly.

In 1995, general trade exports of textiles and garments accounted for 56.6 percent share, while the share of processing trade was 43.3 percent, according to the Chinese customs statistics. However, by 2013, the proportion of general trade increased to 75.4 percent, while the share of processing trade decreased to 14.7 percent.

Secondly, private enterprises have risen to dominate the Chinese textile and garment export industry. In 2013, private enterprises contributed 62.5 percent to China’s total textile and clothing exports, while foreign-funded enterprises and state-owned enterprises accounted for 24.3 percent and 13.1 percent share, respectively.

Even during the US subprime mortgage crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis, China continued to be the first in global textile and apparel trade, and this position is difficult to shake, opine experts.

From the perspective of presence of complete textile industrial chain, the quality of labour and infrastructure, service levels, delivery guarantee and other factors, the countries in South and Southeast Asia still lag far behind China.

In addition, minimum wages in other countries are also quickly rising. For example, the minimum wage in Vietnam increased by 103 percent in 2013 over 2010, while it rose by 82 percent in Thailand, 46 percent in Indonesia and 41 percent in India.

In view of these factors, some experts believe that the Chinese textile and garment sector would never become a sunset industry.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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