2017 national textile and apparel trade overview

In 2017， the growth rate of the national trade in goods hit a new high in 6 years， with a total import and export value of 4，104.48 billion U.S. dollars， up 11.4% over the same period of last year. Among them， the export was 2.22349 trillion U.S. dollars， up 7.9%； the import was 1.84099 trillion U.S. dollars， up 15.9%， and the cumulative trade surplus was 422.51 billion U.S. dollars. In December 2017， the total value of imports and exports of national goods hit 408.89 billion U.S. dollars， up 8%. Among them， the export was 231.79 billion U.S. dollars， up 10.9%； the import was 177.1 billion U.S. dollars， up 4.5%， and the trade surplus of the month was 54.69 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2017， the total volume of trade in textiles and garments was 293.15 billion U.S. dollars， up 1.2%， of which exports were 268.6 billion U.S. dollars， up 0.8%. Imports were 24.55 billion U.S. dollars， up 5.3%. The accumulated trade surplus was 244.05 billion U.S. dollars， up 0.4%. In December 2017， the trade volume of textiles and garments was 26.18 billion U.S. dollars， up 2.2%. Among them， the export was 24.02 billion U.S. dollars， up 2.5%. The import was 2.16 billion U.S. dollars， down 1.6%. The monthly trade surplus was 21.86 billion U.S. dollars， up 2.9%.

2017 textile and apparel import and export presented the following characteristics：

Steady and positive trend with growth in full-year exports

Under the combined effect of the recovery of global economic recovery from external demand， the continuous improvement of the domestic economy and the low base of the same period of last year， the foreign trade in Chinese textile and apparel always presented a “steady”trend in 2017. In the second half of the year， in particular， exports remained steady for more than a month， enjoying a slight increase. The increase in Q4 rose to 3.7%， making the year-end exports finally see growth again after experiencing a two-year decline in a row.

Under the dual engine upgrade of quantity and price， in terms of import， the declining trend was reversed for 3 consecutive years and the rapid growth was realized.

More reasonable trade structure and further foreign trade concentration

From the perspective of trade and export enterprises， there are three further optimization features in 2017：

Trade structures are more reasonable. General trade exports reflecting the capability of independent development of foreign trade accounted for 76.4% of the total， maintaining a 3/4 share. The export of “other trade” dominated by market purchases was further highlighted， and the proportion rose to 6.9%. General trade exports edged down 0.4% while other trade exports increased by 16.6%， driving the overall export growth.

Business composition is further optimized. Private enterprises accumulatively exported 187.55 billion U.S. dollars， accounting for a record high of 70% and an increase of 3% in export value， becoming the only driving force for boosting the overall export growth and a stronger endogenous momentum for the development of foreign trade. Exports of state-owned enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises dropped by 3.6% and 4.4% respectively.

Concentration of foreign trade is further enhanced. Only 0.7% of exporters are super-large-scale and large-scale enterprises （whose export value is more than 50 million U.S. dollars）， contributing 30% of exports. Constant-big and lasting-powerful trend is being gradually formed.

Last year， outstanding performance of the integrated service platform for foreign trade greatly diminished in 2017， and the exports of “onetouch”enterprises were rapidly shrinking. In particular， the rankings of“onetouch” in Shandong and Fujian plunged sharply. Most of the top 10 exporters have returned to textile and apparel manufacturing or foreign trade companies.

The key markets were showing a steady trend， and exports to the United States， ASEAN， and Japan resumed growth.

EU — The decline in exports to the EU has narrowed and the impact of Brexit in the United Kingdom is expected to outweigh the disadvantages.

In 2017， among the four major export markets for textile and apparel， only the exports to the EU saw decrease by 1.1% to a total of 48.86 billion U.S. dollars， a marked decline from the previous year. Among them， it was mainly due to a decrease of 2.7% in apparel， while there was a growth by 3.9% in textiles. The total export volume of major types of knitwear garments increased slightly by 0.5% while the export unit price dropped by 3.8%.

Brexit is the EU major event in recent years. The United Kingdom is an important export market for Chinas textile and apparel， ranking fifth in terms of individual countries and the largest market country in the 28 EU countries. In 2017， China exported 10.33 billion U.S. dollars to the United Kingdom， accounting for 4% of the total global exports and 21% of the exports to the EU.

In the next two years， as the negotiation process advances， the United Kingdom will gradually strip its former EU institutional arrangements and formulate and improve its own policies on financial taxation and trade remedies. Brexit has both advantages and disadvantages for China. However， since the United Kingdom has always advocated the global free trade system， its general guideline on foreign trade is still expected to be based on opening up. It will outweigh the disadvantages of Chinas export overall.

According to the EU Customs statistics， from January to October， the EU imported 109.33 billion U.S. dollars of textile and apparel from the world， an increase of 2.8% and its import from China was 37.42 billion U.S. dollars， up 1.3%. Imports from ASEAN and Bangladesh increased by 9.9% and 3.4% respectively.

The United States — Exports to the United States are driven by textiles to resume growth.

Owing to the sluggish local economy， Chinas exports to the United States decreased for the first time in 20 years in 2016. In 2017， the U.S. economy recovered in a robust manner and all fundamental indicators continued to improve. Exports to the United States have resumed growth again， presenting a total annual export of 45.39 billion U.S. dollars， an increase of 1%， a positive pull to the overall export.

Textile exports were 12.39 billion U.S. dollars， an increase of 6%； clothing exports were 33 billion U.S. dollars， down 0.8%. Among them， the total export volume of major types of knitted and woven garments increased by 2.3% while the export unit price dropped by 4%. The finished textile exports rose by 6.9%.

According to the U.S. Customs statistics， from January to November， the U.S. imports of textiles and garments totaled 108.43 billion U.S. dollars， up 0.9%， of which imports from China were 39.42 billion U.S. dollars， a slight decrease of 0.7%. Imports from ASEAN， India and Mexico increased by 2.9%， 3.9% ， and 6.2% respectively.

ASEAN — The main force driving the overall export growth with increased clothing export prices.

As the third largest market for Chinas textile and apparel exports， ASEAN has become the main force driving the growth of overall exports in 2017 with a cumulative export volume of 34.75 billion U.S. dollars， up 4.5%， the fastest growth in the four major markets and a 0.6 percentage point increase in the overall export growth. Textile exports were 25.69 billion U.S. dollars， an increase of 6.7%， while garment exports were 9.06 billion U.S. dollars， down 1.2%. for major categories， the export of fabrics increased by 7.1%， while the total volume of export of knitted and woven garments decreased by 5.9% and the unit price increased by 2.5%. It is the only key market that enjoyed increase in the price of garment exports.

Among the 10 ASEAN countries， Vietnam still retains the largest market position. In 2017， Chinas exports to Vietnam resumed growth. Its annual export volume increased by 8.6%. It is worth mentioning that Vietnam had surpassed India as the largest source of yarn imports in China since 2016 and the proportion of yarn imports from Vietnam rapidly rose to 28% in 2017.

Japan — Continued decline of exports to Japan is reversed with gradually stabilized market.

Four consecutive years of declining in exports to Japan was reversed in 2017 by a slight increase of 0.05% to 20.32 billion U.S. dollars. The Japanese market was gradually stabilized.

Textile exports to Japan grew by 3% to 4.36 billion U.S. dollars， while clothing exports decreased by 0.7% to 15.97 billion U.S. dollars. The total volume of knitted and woven garments in major categories increased by 2.6% while the unit price dropped by 3.3%. Japan is still the main export market for middle- and high-end products in China. The average price of garment exports is 20% - 30% higher than in Europe and the United States.

According to Japanese Customs statistics， from January to November， Japan imported textiles and clothing of 33.64 billion U.S. dollars， up 0.3%， of which imports from China amounted to 20.47 billion U.S. dollars， down 1.3% and imports from ASEAN increased by 5.2%.

Emerging markets have recovered in large scale and the “Belt and Road Initiative” has achieved remarkable results.

While the advanced economies are recovering， the markets of developing countries are also gradually recovering. In 2017， Chinas exports to Africa， Latin America and South Asia all achieved growth. Among them， exports to South Africa increased by 6.3%， to Brazil by 33.3% and to India by 3.7%. With the advancing Belt and Road Initiative， Chinas exports to 64 countries along the Belt and Road reached a total of 91.47 billion U.S. dollars， up 2.9% and its share of exports rose to 34.1%.

The year of 2017 marks the 5th anniversary of the “16 + 1”cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe. In the past five years， the trade volume between China and Central and Eastern Europe gradually expanded. The total export of China increased by 17.8% and imports by 27.1%. These 16 countries are all along the “Belt and Road” and there is still room for further development in the future.

The share of Chinese products in key export markets continued to decline， but the decline slowed down.

Judging from the data， the downward trend in the share of China in the Japanese market last year has not changed. However， the rate of industrial transfer has slowed markedly from the previous few years. From January to November， the share of Chinese products in the Japanese market was 60.9%， down 0.9 percentage points from the same period of last year， and the rate of decline slowed down significantly. Enterprises also have the same feeling. According to the main export enterprises to Japan， the current Japanese market is further improved relative to other markets. In particular， sales of medium and high grade products in Japan can achieve steady growth. In the meantime， the market share in the EU has also slowed down. The amount in January - October was 34.2%， down only 0.4 percentage points from the same period of last year. Relatively speaking， Chinas product market share in the United States saw the smallest change， only a cumulative decline of 2.5 percentage points in 2011 - 2017， far better than the EU and Japan.

The structure of export commodities saw gradual improvement， and the export price decline has not yet reversed.

After continuous industrial restructuring and transformation and upgrading during the “12th Five-Year Program” and “13th Five-Year Program” periods， the textile and garment export commodities structure has gradually improved. In 2017， the share of textile exports increased to 41.1%， while the apparel dropped to 58.9%， for the first time below 60%. Textile exports increased by 4.2%， better than apparel which fell by 1.4%. The exports of yarns， fabrics and finished products of all kinds of textiles increased by 7.8%， 4.1% and 3.5% respectively. The total export of knitted and woven garments dropped by 2.3%.

From the volume and price index analysis， the volume index of textile exports was 108.7， the apparel was 105.1， the export price index of textiles was 95.79， and the apparel was 93.8. This shows that the export of textile and apparel is still subject to the price drop and the export growth still depends mainly on the increase in quantity.

Specifically， the export of yarn and fabrics increased by 5.6% and 8.4% respectively， while the total exports of knitted and woven garments increased by 2.8%. Yarn export prices rose by 2.1%， while fabrics and knitted and woven garments dropped by 4% and 4.9% respectively. The decline in export prices has not yet completely reversed.

The eastern region enjoyed growth again， and Xinjiangs export status were upgraded.

In 2017， Zhejiang， Jiangsu and Shandong， among the top 5 traditional exporting provinces， achieved growth of 0.9%， 7.4% and 2.3% respectively， while Guangdong and Fujian dropped by 1.9% and 5.1% respectively. By region， the eastern region with exports accounting for nearly 90% of the total recovered 1.6%. The central and western regions dropped by 4.9% and 4.2% respectively.

Xinjiang， as the core zone of the Silk Road Economic Belt， has unique geographical advantages and resource endowments. In recent years， with the promotion of local investment industrial policies by the state， Xinjiang succeeds in accelerating the pace of industrial transfer in the coastal areas and has achieved double-digit growth for two consecutive years. In 2017， the export volume reached 6.37 billion U.S. dollars， up 21.7%. In the national export rankings， the order of the exports went up to the seventh.

The proportion of apparel imports continued to enlarge， and the volume and value of textile imports soared.

With the gradual reduction of tariffs on imports of consumer goods， the value of apparel imports rose rapidly and the proportion of apparel imports was gradually enlarged. Apparel imports in 2017 was 7.18 billion U.S. dollars， an increase of 9.4%， and the proportion rose to 29.2%. The main factors contributing to the import of apparel were the increase in volume. The index of apparel imports was 115.9 while the import price index was 94.4. Among them， the imports of major categories of knitted and woven garments increased by 13.4% while the average import prices dropped by 4.3%.

Textile imports reached 17.38 billion U.S. dollars， an increase of 3.7%， presenting a growth in both volume and value. Import volume index was 100.5， and the import price index was 103.1. Imports of yarn and finished goods both increased by 6.2% and fabrics decreased by 1.3%. The import of cotton yarn fluctuated with the rotation of the State Reserve Cotton. During the period when the reserve cotton was delivered， the import volume of foreign yarn dropped sharply. When the reserve cotton round came to an end， the import volume of foreign yarn rebounded. The cumulative import volume increased slightly by 0.6% and the average import price increased by 5.9%.