Filament Weaving: A Brief Analysis Of The Economic Operation Of The Filament Weaving Industry In The First Half Of The Year

Since 2024, China's filament weaving industry has adhered to the principle of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promoting stability through progress, and building up before breaking down, and worked hard to overcome the difficulties and challenges brought by the uncertainty of the external environment and the continuous deepening of domestic structural adjustment. From January to June, the industry ran steadily, the benefits continued to repair, production picked up steadily, foreign trade exports made steady progress, and the domestic market performed well, in order to achieve "stable quality and quantity" throughout the year The goal lays a solid foundation.

　　 1、 Continuous recovery of economic operation

According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to June 2024, the operating revenue of the textile industry above designated size in China will increase by 6% year on year, the total profit will increase by 21.1% year on year, and the profit margin will be 3.2%, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the same period in 2023. By industry, the operating revenue of chemical fiber weaving and printing and dyeing finishing industry (above designated size) increased by 12.4% year on year, the total profit increased by 48.7% year on year, and the profit margin was 2.5%, 0.6 percentage points higher than the same period in 2023. Among them, the operating revenue of chemical fiber weaving industry (above designated size) increased by 11% year on year, 7.7 percentage points faster than that of the same period last year; The total profit increased by 14% year on year, and the growth rate rose by 37.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year. The profit margin was 2.2%, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point year on year.

According to the data from the questionnaire of the Association on the operation of industrial enterprises in the first half of the year (hereinafter referred to as the questionnaire), 83% of the sample enterprises reported that the sales revenue in the first half of 2024 had increased to varying degrees compared with the same period in 2023, and 60% of the enterprises with increased sales revenue said that the economic benefits in the first half of the year were average.

　　 2、 Steady recovery of production situation

According to the statistics of the Association, in the first half of 2024, the total output of chemical filament fabrics in Shengze, Changxing, Xiuzhou, Siyang, Pingwang and Xiaohai will increase by 4.2% year on year. The output of Shengze, Changxing, Xiuzhou, Siyang and Xiaohai increased by 6%, 8.5%, 2.7%, 5% and 10.4% year on year respectively; It is expected that the output will decrease by 7.8% year on year. According to the visit and questionnaire survey of the Association, more than 80% of enterprises in the first half of the year had a start-up rate of more than 80%.

　　 3、 The price of raw materials fluctuated slightly

In the first quarter of 2024, the price of Brent crude oil rose to $87/barrel, and fell to $81.2/barrel in the second quarter. After that, it returned to $84.8/barrel in June, and then fell slightly in July. Since 2024, the price of nylon FDY has risen and fallen, and the overall market price focus has risen; The price of polyester DTY (150D) fluctuates slightly. After June, the price of polyester DTY/FDY showed an upward trend. (Figure 1)

Figure 1 Price trend of China's chemical filament, cotton, PTA futures and Brent crude oil from January 2023 to July 2024

Unit: USD/barrel, RMB/ton

Source: China Filament Weaving Association

　　 4、 Steady operation of foreign trade export

　　 (1) Exports of filament fabrics increased steadily

China's textile and clothing exports have generally maintained a steady and progressive trend. According to the statistics of China Customs, from January to June 2024, China's textile and clothing exports will be 143.18 billion US dollars, up 1.5% year on year. Among them, clothing exports reached US $73.83 billion, unchanged year-on-year; Textile exports reached US $69.35 billion, up 3.3% year on year.

Against this background, China's chemical filament fabric exports totaled US $10.21 billion from January to June 2024, up 1.3% year on year; The cumulative export volume was 11.77 billion meters, up 3.7% year on year; The export unit price was 0.9 US dollars per meter, down 2.4% year on year. In RMB terms, the actual export unit price in the first half of the year increased by 0.4% year on year. From January to June 2024, the cumulative export value of polyester filament fabrics was US $8.52 billion, up 0.4% year on year; The cumulative export volume was 10.23 billion meters, up 2.6% year on year; The export unit price was 0.8 US dollars/meter, down 2.1% year on year. The cumulative export value of nylon filament fabrics was 580 million US dollars, up 35.4% year on year; The cumulative export volume was 380 million meters, up 35.6% year on year; The export unit price was USD 1.5/m, down 0.1% year on year.

　　 (2) Analysis of export market

From January to June 2024, the export share of China's filament fabrics to ASEAN and EU (two major markets) will be 32.8% and 5.9% respectively, accounting for 38.7% in total; Other markets accounted for 61.3%. From January to June, total exports to ASEAN reached 3.35 billion US dollars, up 13.9% year on year. Among them, Vietnam is the largest exporter, with a cumulative export of US $1.48 billion in the first half of the year, up 32.1% year on year; The export volume of filament fabrics to Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore also increased by 58.7%, 4.5%, 6.8% and 145.3% year on year respectively; Exports to Indonesia and Thailand fell 14.9% and 5.6% year on year. From January to June 2024, China's export of filament fabrics to the EU reached 600 million US dollars, down 4.2% year on year. From the import data released by the European Commission, China has been the largest import source of the EU for ten consecutive years. In 2023, the cumulative import of filament fabrics from China will occupy 23.7% of its market share, followed by Italy, Germany and Turkey, accounting for 13.1%, 9.6% and 8.7% respectively.

　　 5、 The domestic market is stable and improving

According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to June 2024, the retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, and knitwear and textiles above the designated size will increase by 1.3% year on year; The retail sales of online clothing products increased by 7% year on year. From the trading volume of China Light Textile City, the market boom will continue to rise from January to June 2024. According to the survey data of the Association, 74% of the enterprises' domestic sales orders have increased to varying degrees. The enterprises reported that the conventional fabrics represented by Chunya Textile, Polyester Taff, Nylon Textile, High Elasticity and other products are selling well, but the profit is thin; The demand for new products such as thin cool breathable fabrics, functional original yarn sunscreen fabrics or high count and high density new Chinese jacquard fabrics is on the rise and the profits are considerable.

　　 6、 Outlook

Looking ahead, the industry should deeply understand the spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, continue to deepen transformation and upgrading, and accelerate the transformation of digital intelligence; Pay attention to improving quality and tapping potential, increase product innovation, and explore diversified development paths; Improve the level of refined management, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of green low-carbon, plant development advantages, and lead the industry to continue to move towards high-quality development on the basis of "stability" with new quality and new power. At the same time, enterprises should always pay attention to the price fluctuations of crude oil and major chemical filament, the RMB exchange rate and relevant national policies, reasonably arrange the internal and external markets, and effectively resolve the risks of slowing demand growth expectations, high operating pressure, low profits and so on.

(Source: China Filament Weaving Association)