Since 2020, as the COVID-19 epidemic has spread around the world and its impact has intensified, the global economy has continued to decline. Corporate layoffs, increased unemployment, insufficient residents’ consumption, lack of personnel, and poor logistics have led to disruptions in many links of the global supply chain. International trade and investment have been significantly reduced. Different economic sectors around the world are facing downward risks, and my country’s export trade has also declined significantly. According to customs data, from January to June 2020, my country’s export trade volume reached US$1.09875 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 6.2%.
Faced with the general decline in demand in the global trade market and the severe test of the epidemic at home and abroad, as a major producer of epidemic prevention materials, my country’s production capacity of key medical supplies such as protective clothing and masks has rapidly recovered, and it is fully ensuring While needed for domestic epidemic prevention and control, it also provides export support made in China for global epidemic prevention and control. Driven by a significant increase in exports of masks, protective clothing and other related epidemic prevention materials, my country’s textile and apparel exports achieved positive growth for the first time this year. According to my country Customs Express data, from January to June 2020, my country exported US$125.19 billion in textiles and clothing, a year-on-year increase of 3.2%, and the growth rate increased by 5.6 percentage points compared with the same period last year.
Data source: China Customs
Meet international epidemic prevention needs and highlight China’s responsibility
At this stage, the COVID-19 epidemic is still spreading around the world, and medical protective supplies in some hardest-hit areas are still in short supply. shortage. The new production capacity of masks, protective clothing and other medical supplies achieved during my country’s anti-epidemic phase continues to play an active role, and companies with abundant production capacity are also able to actively export masks and other medical protective supplies. According to the white paper “China’s Action to Fight the New Coronavirus Epidemic”, from March 1 to May 31, my country exported 70.6 billion masks to 200 countries and regions around the world.
From the perspective of key export markets, the European Union, the United States, and Japan are currently more dependent on my country’s imports of masks and other anti-epidemic materials. According to Eurostat data, from January to April 2020, the 27 EU countries imported 4.76 billion euros of masks from my country, a year-on-year increase of 11.8 times; according to data from the U.S. Customs and the Japanese Ministry of Finance, from January to May 2020, the United States and Japan The imports of masks from my country were US$5.59 billion and 267.84 billion yen, respectively, an increase of 4.7 times and 1.6 times year-on-year. At the same time, my country’s mask import market share in the United States and Japan is 89.2% and 93.9% respectively, fully meeting the demand for epidemic prevention materials in relevant key export markets.
Demand for apparel exports is sluggish and has not changed its downward trend
Although textiles are in great demand in masks and other related epidemic prevention materials Driven by the surge in exports, exports have grown rapidly. However, affected by the epidemic, overall consumer confidence in the international market has continued to decline, consumption capacity has declined significantly, and market demand for traditional consumer goods such as clothing has been sluggish. This has also caused my country’s exports of clothing products to continue to decline this year. According to customs data, from January to June 2020, my country’s clothing exports reached US$51.08 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 19.4%. The downward trend continued, and the proportion of total textile and clothing exports in the same period fell rapidly to 40.8%.
As the key export market for my country’s clothing products, it has declined across the board. From January to May 2020, my country’s apparel exports to the United States fell by 34.49% year-on-year, exports to the EU fell by 17.06%, exports to Japan fell by 9.28%, and exports to countries along the Belt and Road also fell by 20.27%.
The export growth rate of anti-epidemic materials may be adjusted back in the future, and relevant companies need to pay close attention to it
Although the current epidemic situation The epidemic is still spreading around the world, and the global demand for anti-epidemic materials is still huge. However, as the epidemic prevention and control situation improves, it is expected that the export growth rate of anti-epidemic products such as masks and protective clothing may be adjusted back in the future.
Take the EU as an example. In March this year, affected by the spread of the epidemic, the EU issued relevant export bans to ensure an adequate supply of masks and other personal protective equipment. On May 26, the EU officially lifted its export ban on personal protective equipment. This has given us a relevant signal – the EU’s demand for masks and other anti-epidemic materials is gradually declining. Accordingly, anti-epidemic material manufacturers with the EU as their main market may need to appropriately reduce production capacity, and relevant anti-epidemic material export companies need to further pay attention to the demand trends in the EU market and be prepared to respond.
At the same time, the international market consumption of clothing products is very sluggish, and the export pressure of my country’s clothing products will still be great in the future. According to statistics, from January to May, the retail sales of clothing and apparel in the United States fell by 47.8% year-on-year; the retail sales of textile and apparel in the EU fell by 77.8% year-on-year in May; from January to May, the retail sales of clothing and apparel in Japan fell by 27.1% year-on-year.
Overall, my country’s overall export pressure on textiles and apparel will still be relatively high during the year. </p
