Recently, the news that “Hangzhou Sijiqing Clothing Market is booming” has spread all over the textile circle. Work has just started, and the Sijiqing Market is so busy that there is no time for lunch. The clothing market showed a busy scene. What is the situation of the weaving market as the upstream of clothing?
Order-taking differentiation in the woven fabric market
Although cloth bosses have been busy delivering goods and receiving new orders since the start of work, and printing and dyeing factories have also received a lot of blanks into warehouses. It seems that the weaving market is also moving. But in fact, from the overall market perspective, it did not meet expectations. In short, the market is still divided. Some companies are reluctant to accept orders, while others are still waiting for orders.
According to monitoring data from Silkdu.com, as of February 6, the operating rate of weaving companies in the sample was around 35.3%, which is still at a low level. At present, companies are still “recruiting”, and the arrival rate of workers in some companies is still low. Some companies even have a situation where “there are orders but no one to do them.”
It is normal for clothing and fabric prices to be inconsistent. For one thing, February itself is a big new season for spring clothing. Since December, due to the widespread outbreak of the epidemic, most people have stayed at home, and clothing stores have therefore started online sales promotions and clearance activities. Until the Spring Festival, the inventory of clothing stores is almost empty. When work starts after the Spring Festival, the first thing clothing store owners do is to go to clothing wholesale places like Sijiqing to purchase goods. Therefore, Sijiqing’s business is booming.
As for weaving fabrics, February itself is the off-season, and March and April are the peak seasons. According to the production time, after receiving the order, the clothing company selects suitable fabrics, makes samples, and tests colors, and finally places the order to the fabric manufacturer after confirmation. The time required can be as little as 1 month or as much as more than 2 months. moon. Therefore, the clothes currently on sale are all orders completed by weaving fabric companies years ago.
Booming clothing orders boost weaving fabric market
Although this wave of hot orders from Sijiqing did not immediately affect the woven fabrics, it had a very big boosting effect. In recent years, due to the epidemic, the start of construction has often been delayed after the Spring Festival. At the same time, it is difficult to travel around the country and it is difficult to welcome crowds. First of all, under the influence of the liberalization of epidemic policies, travel has been smooth and clothing stores have actively launched new products, which is conducive to alleviating clothing inventory. In addition, residents’ consumer confidence has increased, and their desire to purchase clothing has also increased. Demand will also increase this year. In this “Gold, Three, Silver and Four” peak season, clothing companies’ stockings of summer and autumn clothing are expected to increase compared to the past 2-3 years.
At present, the downstream gray fabric market has not yet felt the popularity of this wave of clothing orders. According to previous years, orders for the first half of the year will basically start at the end of February. Calculating time, after the recent clearing of inventory in the clothing wholesale market, replenishment will soon be needed, and new models will need to be updated. As a result, clothing factories will soon need to place new fabric orders to meet production.
In 2022, my country’s clothing exports will still achieve certain growth. According to China Customs statistics, from January to December, my country’s total exports of clothing (including clothing accessories) reached US$175.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%. While the overseas epidemic continues in 2022, the foreign trade situation has still reversed. It is believed that clothing exports will continue to grow after the epidemic is relaxed this year.
The current market sentiment is strong in anticipating a recovery in consumption. From a policy perspective, stimulating consumption is likely to be the key task of my country’s economic development in 2023. We will see the arrival of a demand inflection point. The main highlight of the textile and apparel market is the recovery of domestic demand.
The weaving market experienced a small peak during the off-season at the end of last year, and gray fabric inventories were significantly reduced. According to data monitoring from Silkdu.com, the average inventory of gray fabrics has also dropped from a high of 39 days to a neutral level of 35.5 days.
Summarize
As the pressure on gray fabric inventory declines and cash flow recovers, the enthusiasm of weaving factories has also increased. At present, under the optimistic expectation of domestic demand recovery, the textile market may usher in the “Gold, Three, Silver and Four” peak seasons from March to April.
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