my country’s textile and apparel industry is in a “cold winter” in 2019, with domestic demand slowing down and external resistance increasing. The total retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, needles, and textiles from January to October 2019 was 1.06237 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%. This is significantly lower than the growth rate of 8.4% in the same period last year. During the same period, my country’s cumulative exports of textiles and clothing from January to October 2019 were US$224.815 billion, a decrease of 2.6% compared with the same period last year; of which, the cumulative exports of textiles were US$99.310 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.4%, lower than the growth rate of 9.9% in the same period last year; the cumulative exports of clothing US$125.505 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 4.8%, lower than the 1.2% growth rate in the same period last year.
Domestic demand for ethylene glycol has increased steadily in recent years, mostly due to the growth in demand for polyester. China is the global clothing production base , chemical fiber clothing requires a large amount of polyester. China’s polyester production accounts for half of the world, and about 90% of China’s ethylene glycol (half of the world’s ethylene glycol) is used in China’s polyester production. As of 2019 Downstream consumption from January to October this year was 14.5652 million tons, while the consumption of polyester alone almost reached 13.8933 million tons. The subsequent growth in demand for MEG will mainly depend on the increase in demand for downstream polyester.
According to incomplete statistics in 2019, my country’s total polyester production capacity reached 58.69 million tons, with a year-on-year growth rate of 9.15%. The new polyester production capacity during the year was 3.92 million tons, and supporting products were mainly concentrated in the three major fields of polyester chips, polyester filament and polyester staple fiber, accounting for 9.0%, 74.7% and 16.3% respectively. From January to October 2019, China’s polyester production totaled 41.47 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 10.0%. It is expected that the full-year polyester production may exceed 50 million tons.
In 2019, the inventory of polyester products is high, and the center of gravity of polyester prices continues to shift downward. Upstream raw materials give away profits, and downstream demand is sluggish. The center of gravity of polyester prices continues to shift downward. Affected by the Sino-U.S. trade friction and the slowdown in domestic consumption growth, the prosperity of the terminal weaving industry has declined significantly. Although the profits of polyester factories throughout the year were acceptable, there were periodic losses. In 2020, the price of polyester raw materials is expected to be weak under the expectation of a significant increase in supply. There is no risk of a significant increase in cost. The main risk comes from the downturn in peripheral and terminal weaving. </p
