January-August garment export data across China

According to statistics, in August, the total value of China's imports and exports was 2.17 trillion yuan (equivalent to 352.7 billion US dollars), and the deduction of exchange rate factors increased by 7.1% year-on-year. Among them, 1.17 trillion yuan (US$19.61 billion) was exported, an increase of 7.2%; imports were 1 trillion yuan (US$162.09 billion), an increase of 7%; and the trade surplus was 176.32 billion yuan (equivalent to 28.52 billion US dollars), an increase of 8.4%.

Among export commodities, exports of mechanical and electrical products have increased steadily, and exports of traditional labor-intensive products such as textiles and garments have shown good growth. In August, China’s garment exports reached US$18.65 billion, an increase of 12.7%; textiles reached US$3.99 billion, an increase of 16.8%; footwear reached US$4.67 billion, a decrease of 0.2%.

Quanzhou & Wenzhou: The export value steadily increased. Look at the situation from January to August this year. In the first 8 months of this year, Quanzhou's textile and apparel exports totaled 3.92 billion US dollars, accounting for 1/5 of the total value of Quanzhou's exports during the same period, a year-on-year increase of 27.7%. . Among them, US$3.01 billion was exported for clothing and clothing accessories, and US$910 million was for textile yarn fabrics and products.

According to reports, the main export markets of textiles and garments in Quanzhou are the European Union, ASEAN, Africa and Latin America. In several export markets, exports from other export markets have steadily increased, except that Latin America’s exports fell by 12.4%. In particular, in the ASEAN region, in the first eight months of this year, Quanzhou City has exported 880 million U.S. dollars of textile and clothing products, an increase of 95.5% year-on-year.

According to data released by Wenzhou Customs, in the first eight months of this year, the total import and export value of Wenzhou City was US$13.59 billion, and the deduction of the exchange rate factor (the same below) dropped by 0.99% year-on-year. Among them, exports of 11.9 billion US dollars, an increase of 0.23%; imports of 1.69 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 8.81%. The trade surplus was 10.21 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 1.9% year-on-year.

Apparel and accessories have always been the “probe” on the list, and the value of exports from January to August has also steadily increased. In July, the export of garments has exceeded 200 million yuan. However, the export data of the garment industry also revealed a problem: In addition to February, the export value of such products has been negative year-on-year, although the year-on-year decline in July and August has narrowed to less than 10%.

According to Zheng Chenai, president of the Wenzhou Fashion Chamber of Commerce, the apparel exporting countries in Wenzhou are mainly EU. Since the beginning of this year, the EU countries’ market has not recovered quickly, which is the most important reason for the “negative growth” in the year-on-year period. In contrast, the recovery and development of the US market is rapid. Therefore, last month, 30 foreign trade apparel companies in Wenzhou established the “overseas display platform” in Los Angeles, USA – Los Angeles Wenger Fashion (Display Platform) Co., Ltd., which will use Los Angeles as the center to radiate the North American and South American markets.

The export market is still dominated by the markets of developed countries such as the European Union and the United States. From January to August, Wenzhou’s three major export markets for the textile and apparel industry were the European Union, the United States, and Russia. Among them, the EU exports 3 billion US dollars, a decrease of 1.4%; the US exports 1.57 billion US dollars, an increase of 0.8%; exports to Russia 1.13 billion US dollars, an increase of 24%.

Shandong Port Garment Exports Growth 6%

Clothing exports in Shandong have also increased. According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, the export of clothing and clothing accessories at the Port of Shandong (hereinafter referred to as “clothing”) for the first eight months of this year was US$7.66 billion, which was 6% higher than the same period of last year (the same below). In the first 8 months of this year, the garment export of Shandong Port presented the following main features:

First, the export value of single month climbed up obviously. Since the beginning of this year, the export value of garments at the Shandong Port has continued to climb since March, and it has achieved positive growth year-on-year for five consecutive months from April. In the month of August, garment exports from Shandong Port hit a record high, with exports of US$1.31 billion for the month, a year-on-year increase of 11.6% and a year-on-year increase of 11.2%.

Second, exports accounted for more than 70% of general trade, and processing trade exports declined slightly. In the first 8 months of this year, Shandong Port exported apparel by 5.66 billion U.S. dollars in general trade, up by 11.1%, accounting for 72.4% of the total clothing exports of Shandong Port in the same period; the processing trade export was 2.05 billion U.S. dollars, down by 5.1%, accounting for 26.4 percent. %.

Third, private enterprises dominate exports and grow faster, while foreign-invested enterprises have lower exports. In the first eight months of this year, private enterprises in Shandong port exported 4.51 billion U.S. dollars of clothing, up 13.9%, accounting for 58.1%; foreign-invested enterprises exported 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, down 5.5%, accounting for 32.3%; state-owned enterprises exported 750 million U.S. dollars, up 4.7%. .

Fourth, Japan and the United States as the main export markets, exports to South Korea, ASEAN rapid growth. In the first eight months of this year, Shandong Port exported US$2.77 billion, 1.66 billion, and 1.42 billion U.S. dollars to Japan, the European Union, and the United States, respectively, an increase of 1.5%, 8.1%, and 2.3%, respectively, and accounted for 75.5% of the above three market exports. . In addition, Korea and ASEAN exported 9.4 billion U.S. dollars and 51.73 million U.S. dollars, respectively, which increased by 21.9% and 32.3% respectively.

The main reason for the steady growth of clothing exports at the Shandong Port recently is that the traditional European and American markets are picking up. The final value of the business expectations index for the service sector in the euro zone in August was 58.5, which was the highest since March 2012. This indicates that the EU economy is gradually escaping from the bottom, and the pace of overall economic recovery is more steady; the report released by the US Supply Management Association on September 3 shows In August, the US manufacturing purchasing managers index was 55.7, which expanded for the third consecutive month, indicating that the U.S. economy continues to recover. The economy of Europe and the United States continues to improve, and the demand for textile and apparel consumer goods has picked up.

The second is the development of powerful new markets. After the outbreak of the financial crisis, the demand for traditional export markets such as Europe and the United States continued to slump. China's garment export enterprises gradually increased their efforts in the development of emerging markets such as Latin America, Australia, and ASEAN, and their export has become more obvious. According to the data, in the first eight months of this year, Shandong Port exported garments worth 220 million U.S. dollars, 120 million U.S. dollars, and 51.73 million U.S. dollars to Latin America, Australia, and ASEAN, respectively, an increase of 10.9%, 14.9%, and 32.3% respectively.

In addition, foreign trade promotion policies are favorable to exports. Starting from the fourth quarter of last year, China’s policy environment for import and export trade has been continuously optimized, and measures such as tax deductions and exemptions, accelerating export tax rebates, and increasing financial support have been introduced to promote steady growth in foreign trade. Since the beginning of this year, this policy has maintained stability and continuity, and has obviously promoted the growth of exports.

The proposal from the Customs is undeniable that China's garment industry is currently faced with many problems such as overall overcapacity, severe homogeneity competition, high production factor costs, and declining international market share. The ever-increasing trade friction has also made textile and apparel product exports face resistance. From January to June this year, the EU non-food products rapid alarm system (rapex) reported a total of 122 cases of textile and apparel products, of which 109 cases came from China and accounted for 89.34% of the notified textile and apparel products; it was initiated by the European Union on April 1. The new version of "Eco-Textiles Standard 100" was formally implemented, and this certification requires annual review every year; Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and other countries have filed anti-dumping investigations on my textiles; in addition, Sweden recently submitted nonylphenol and nonylphenol The new restrictions on polyoxyethylene ethers are proposed to restrict products that may bring nonylphenol into the water through washing, such as clothing, textile accessories, and indoor textiles. Most companies in China are not aware of the harmful nature of the substance and are still This material is used in the manufacture of textiles and other industries. The ever-increasing trade friction raises the threshold of exports and increases export resistance.

To this end, Qingdao Customs recommends that clothing companies should first improve traditional production models, innovate marketing models, increase technological investment, product development and brand cultivation, and really do a good job in the transformation and upgrading of the apparel industry, from the old path of scale expansion to the new path of value expansion. The second is to improve the production process, optimize the product structure, strengthen internal management, improve production efficiency and product quality, and effectively reduce the impact of cost factors; Third, pay close attention to the dynamics of foreign markets, broaden the channels for information release and feedback, and deepen the study of technical barriers to trade , continuously improve the level of technical trade barriers.