The global business environment for the textile industry has been bad since June 2022 and has continued to get worse, according to the 19th edition of the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) Global Textile Industry Survey (GTIS).
It asserts that high production costs and relatively low demand present a ‘perfect storm’ situation for businesses worldwide and across all market segments.
At the same time, since November 2022, businesses’ expectations for the business climate in the next six months have improved. It is unclear if this rising confidence about the medium-term future is a result of the conviction that things cannot get any worse or hope for a well-founded return to normalcy in the economy.
According to the research, order intake has also been continuously declining since November 2021, generally in line with the general trend in the business environment. However, the rate of reduction has slowed in March 2023, most likely as a result of insufficient demand.
Since July 2022, ‘weakening demand’ has been identified as the top issue in the global textile value chain, and according to the most recent poll, its significance has increased. The second most pressing issue on the global agenda is inflation.
The second half of 2023 is likely to see improvements, and this is backed by inventory levels that are stabilising and a reasonably low rate of order cancellations.
