China’s exports of garments and clothing accessories grew 5.50 per cent in 2019, according to an official data released by China Customs Statistics (CCS).
The largest apparel and textile exporter in the world clocked US $ 151.37 billion in its RMG and clothing accessory exports in 2019, out of which around US $ 13.35 billion was earned in December.
The data, further analysed by Apparel Resources, says that the exports of knitted garments upped by 2.90 per cent to hit US $ 60.52 billion, whereas woven garment exports too earned almost the same value which is US $ 60.17 billion, marking 4.70 per cent growth on Y-o-Y basis.
Further, leather garments made up around US $ 141.43 million in total exports with a massive downfall of 33 per cent. Interestingly, leather garments saw great jump of 44.3 per cent in quantity-wise exports.
Exports of fur garments experienced significant growth of 53.30 per cent in 2019 and stood at US $ 4.12 billion. Since China is leading country in providing high-quality fur garments, no other Asian country could compete with it in 2019; therefore China enjoyed exclusivity in the segment.
Substantiating the same, Vincent Djen, Director, Cheng Kung Garments, Shanghai (China) told Apparel Resources, “Seeing the data and based on my market understanding, I can say that China will see this growth to continue as clothing brands are producing higher valued garments in our country for which we have specialised manufacturing facility and fabric development centres.”
As far as textile gloves, stocking and socks are concerned, China emerged positively, while it saw decline in leather gloves and headgear segments.
Exports of textile gloves jumped by 6.1 per cent in values to ship US $ 3.32 billion worth of products to the world in 2019. On the other hand, seeing 4.60 per cent rise, textile stocking and socks too managed to clock a significant figure of US $ 6.25 billion.
When it comes to leather gloves and headgear, China saw de-growth of 15 per cent and 4.30 per cent, respectively, to ship products worth US $ 615.32 million and US $ 4.53 billion in respective categories.
The data further suggests that the Chinese exports industry has been able to cope with prevailing challenges, i.e., EU brands are looking to source closer to the market and the trade war with USA is allowing other countries to grab China’s shift.
Adding to this, 2020 has started with a medical crisis for China in the name of Coronavirus, but the industry is still certain to perform better than 2019.
“There are definitely headwinds but China will recover. The fact that now we have many train transportation options from China to Europe will simplify EU’s garment sourcing from China and we will remain competitive. Also, the growth of cross border e-commerce is another engine for RMG export growth,” informed Djen.