T&C sector to maintain negative export trend in Q4

12 Oct '09

2 min read

Exports from the Chinese textile and apparel sector have entered a period of downward spiral, beginning from 2009 leading to a decline in exports by 11 percent in the first seven months of the current year and also seem likely to maintain negative growth for the rest of the year.

In the second half of 2009, labor-intensive industries like textile and apparel industries started to show a marginal recovery and the negative growth was not as high as in other sectors and major market shares of Chinese products continued to improve.

Growth drop in exports to the EU was relatively small while, exports to United States and Japan managed to achieve commendable growth. From 2003-2006, exports of China's textile and garment industry achieved a year-on-year growth of more than 20 percent each year.

The bigger reason for the recovery is that most of the retailers have cleared their inventories, leading to a demand for fresh stock. Industry analysts are of the opinion that, overseas markets have moved more towards value based products.

From the trend of the first half of 2009, decline in textile and garment exports is basically a foregone conclusion for the rest of 2009. But this decrease is not so depressing, since; the negative growth has not been as high as in other sectors, which have witnessed drops of as much as 20 percent.

Experts aver that, China's textile and apparel industry has integrated itself with international standards faster than other Chinese sectors, and they advise that, the sector should realize structural adjustment, in order to enhance its overall level in post-crisis era.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India