Textile and apparel exports fluctuate violently and gradually decrease, rarely seen

China’s textile and apparel exports fluctuated violently in each month of the first quarter, with monthly exports declining month by month, which has been rare in recent years.
Data show that in January this year, textile and clothing exports increased by about 16% year-on-year, but by February, exports declined. Exports in March were only US$12.56 billion, the lowest value for the same period in the past five years, with a year-on-year decrease of 32.6%.
At the same time, in March, China’s textile and clothing exports accounted for 8.7% of the country’s total exports of goods for the first time, falling below 10%. In the first quarter, its cumulative exports only grew by 2.8%, which was far behind expectations at the beginning of the year.
The reporter learned from the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles on the 5th that China’s textile and apparel trade volume fell by 28.3% year-on-year in March this year, of which exports fell by 32.6% year-on-year. From January to March this year, China’s cumulative trade volume of textiles and apparel was US$65.82 billion, an increase of 2.3%, of which exports were US$59.78 billion, an increase of 2.8%.
According to analysis, there are three main reasons for the sharp decline in China’s textile exports in March this year: First, the economic recovery of major global economies is still unstable, the downward pressure on the domestic economy has increased, the overall cost of exports has been high, reducing competitiveness, and orders have decreased. ; Secondly, the impact of the Spring Festival still exists. This year’s 15th day of the first lunar month falls on March 5, and the resumption of work after the workers’ holiday is delayed, which is bound to have a certain reduction in production and exports that month; finally, exports to the EU and Japan are partly affected. The impact of the depreciation of the euro and yen.
Based on the performance in the first quarter, China’s General Administration of Customs and the Ministry of Commerce both stated that they will further introduce measures to stabilize foreign trade and promote growth to help exports achieve sustainable growth. However, industry experts believe that whether market demand will pick up or not is uncontrollable, and coupled with the large base in the same period last year, exports in the second quarter are still full of uncertainty.
In addition, in the first quarter of this year, only one-third of China’s provinces (municipalities, districts) achieved cumulative export growth, and the differences in export increases and decreases between the central and western regions are still large. Key export provinces and cities Zhejiang increased by 6%, Guangdong increased by 15.3%, Jiangsu decreased by 1.1%, Fujian increased by 6.4%, Shandong decreased by 9.5%, and Guangxi increased by 49%.