Dear readers

This new edition is a combination of articles in March and April， which marks a turn to Bimonthly from Monthly that has been published over a decade more. The decision was made partly in consideration of running a paper-print publication in an environmentally-friendly manner that requires less consumption of paper， and largely in conceptualization of a quick and efficient platform for communication online that has in fact been running for years and needs to be improved with the new trend of reading behavior. The paper print is focused on insightful reports in analytic depth with industrial and economic databank available with us to cover different sectors of textile industry in China.

The pandemic has brought forth painful trauma to the global economy and trade， and its strong impact is more chronic than acute with different levels of economic developments across the countries in the world， and the same affect happens to the different sectors of the economy， the textile industry， tied closely to the retail consumption， is susceptible to the crisis as the outdoor restrictions are in effect in addition to travel caveats or alerts that remain longer than expected， keeping residents at home without going out for massive shopping while the online castle is not a fitting room for fashion customers.

The first two months of the year was a pretty hard period for the whole textile industry in the important indicators like business income， investment， sales both in domestic and international markets as the COVID-19 was running rampant in China. As the quick response to the crisis took effect and workers returned to job positions， the situation started to take a turn for the better in April that sees a rebounding in business prosperity index that registers over 50， a significant demarcation for business expansion.

Looking back to the first three months as a whole， we are still in a reserved optimism to head for the rest of the year to project a thriving growth. The official statistics for 33，000 companies in eligible size & scale in the textile industry for the first quarter showed a sharp drop by 25.4% for the business income that amounted to 831.88 billion Yuan while the profits encountered a freefall by 44.2% with 21.81 billion Yuan to turn out a sale/profit rate meagerly at 2.6%， a half size cut as against the normal level of profitability hovering 5%-6% over the years. The investment in the fixed assets was unquestionably affected and reduced by 38% with some specific sectors like manmade fiber and garment to have fallen by 45.8% and 19.2% each.

China exported $47.88 billion worth of textiles and apparel in the beginning quarter of 2020， registering 17.8% ramp-down， more precisely， 15.3% down in textiles and 20.2% off in the apparel， and the shipment decrease in regional markets is also at two-digit level， 29.2 in the United States， 16.8% in Japan， 14.3% in EU， and to our dismay， 13.6% in the countries along the silk routes on land and sea defined in “Belt and Route Initiative”， the last had previously been an emerging market in recent years. But the latest trade data released by Ministry of Commerce on May 7， presented an optimistic picture showing 51.06% ramp-up in the textiles export in the single month of April， pumped by robust demand from international clients for face masks. Every cloud has a silver lining， and in confidence we remain， firm and steadfast.

ZHAO Hong Editor-in-Chief

In April， 2020