China’s apparel and textile industry is in trouble as the country’s domestic market is slumping, while exports are also declining.
The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be the major reason for decline in demand, besides the increase in raw material prices. This is causing China lose its space in textile exports to other Asian countries like Vietnam and India.
According to Financial Post, things are going to get much worse as the UK and USA have banned cotton imports amidst allegations of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang even as the European Union is mulling a similar move, the aftereffects of which can be seen on the Chinese textile industry.
In the US apparel market alone, China has lost over US $ 8 billion market share till 2022 as compared to 2017! Even the demand in 2022 has lowered by 40 per cent from the last year, cited the report.
After the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) came into force, the US companies stopped buying cotton from China. As a result, 3 million tonnes of cotton have remained unsold in Xinjiang despite the new harvest season being a couple of weeks away.
