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The Textile Magazine
FEBRUARY 2012
China’s textile industry set for further
growth: Competitors lag far behind
industry update
D
espite growing challenges,
China’s textile and clothing
industry is set for further
growth while its competitors suffer
declines as a result of cutbacks by
retail buyers, according to Textile
Outlook International from the glo-
bal business information company
Textiles Intelligence.
Although the Chinese textile in-
dustry faces rising costs, an ageing
population and, in some regions,
labour shortages, it looks to have
done reasonably well in 2011. Dur-
ing January-November, its business
revenues and profits each rose by 27
per cent while its industrial output
was up by 11 per cent, year-on-year.
These figures were met with some
disappointment, however, on the
grounds that the profit growth rate
during this period was 14.7 percent-
age points lower than in the first half
of the year.
Several other industries in Asia
also did less well in the second half
of the year as Western retailers cut
orders for the spring/summer 2012
season over fears of a slump in de-
mand after the Christmas and holi-
day season.
Indian apparel exporters missed
out on the chance to turn a fall in the
value of the rupee into big orders.
Described as “the worst performing
currency in Asia”, the rupee fell in
value by over 15 per cent against
the US dollar between July and De-
cember 2011, which provided the
industry with an improvement in its
competitiveness. However, the im-
provement failed to manifest itself
in increased sales.
Even the industry in Bangladesh –
which has enjoyed dramatic growth
in investment and exports in recent
years – reported a downturn in its
exports to the US during the first
four months of the country’s 2011-
12 financial year.
In Pakistan apparel exports are ex-
pected to fall by 30 per cent in the
whole of the 2011-12 financial year,
with buying reported to be down by