Some indicators of the chemical fiber industry recovery in H1 of 2020

by Zhao Xinhua

In the second quarter， with the gradual improvement of the domestic pandemic， the process of resuming production of chemical fiber enterprises accelerated， and the demand in the textile terminal market has rebounded. The decline in major operating indicators such as production， investment and quality efficiency of the chemical fiber industry has been significantly narrower than that from January to March. However， due to the spread of the pandemic abroad， Chinas chemical fiber import and export volume have declined significantly， especially the export volume of major products have turned from a positive growth in January to March to a negative growth. International oil prices began to fluctuate upwards after the plunge in April， which supported the cost of chemical fiber products to a certain extent. However， insufficient demand was still the biggest problem faced by the chemical fiber industry in the first half of the year.

The final demand for textile and apparel continues to recover.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics， from January to June， the national retail sales of clothing， footwear， and knitting textiles above designated size dropped by 19.6% year-on-year， the decline narrowed by 3.9 percentage points than that from January to May， and 12.6 percentage points than that from January to March； the national online retail sales of clothing products fell by 2.9% year-on-year， the decline narrowed by 3.9 percentage points than that from January to May， and 12.2 percentage points than that from January to March.

With the improvement of domestic textile downstream market demand， from January to June， among the main downstream products of chemical fiber， the output decline of cotton blended yarn， chemical fiber yarn， cotton blended fabric， and chemical fiber staple fiber cloth was narrowed compared with January to March. Among them， the decline in the production of chemical fiber yarns narrowed by 13.12 percentage points； as antiviral materials， the output growth rate of nonwovens continued to increase， with a year-on-year increase of 6.55%.

The overall output of chemical fiber basically recovered to the level of the same period last year.

According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics， from January to June， the output of chemical fiber was 28.1054 million tons， a year-on-year decrease of 0.98%， the decline narrowed by 2.18 percentage points than that from January to May and 8.98 percentage points than that from January to March. Among them， the output of polyester was 22.3657 million tons， a year-on-year increase of 0.04%， reversing the trend of year-on-year decline from January to May； the output of nylon was 2.0051 million tons， an increase of 1.32% year-on-year； the output of viscose staple fiber was 1.3670 million tons， a year-on-year decrease of 32.74%； spandex output was 387，600 tons， an increase of 0.27% year-on-year.

Affected by the pandemic abroad， the growth rate of Chinas main chemical fiber products exports has dropped significantly compared with the first quarter.

According to Chinas customs data， from January to June， the total imported 381，800 tons of chemical fiber， a year-on-year decrease of 15.20%， which was 3.93 percentage points deeper than that from January to March. Imports of major products all declined year-on-year. This is mainly because companies still have some pre-orders in execution from January to March， and after March， the global pandemic situation has accelerated.

Affected by the pandemic abroad， Chinas chemical fiber export volume has severely declined.

From January to June， Chinas chemical fiber exports were 1，937，600 tons， a year-on-year decrease of 19.21%， and the decline was 19.97 percentage points deeper than that from January to March. Among them， the export of polyester staple fiber was 338，200 tons， a year-on-year decrease of 32.61%， and the decline was 18.13 percentage points deeper than that from January to March； the export of polyester filament yarn was 1，141，700 tons， a year-on-year decrease of 14.84%， the positive growth of 2% from January to March turned into a negative growth. The export of viscose staple fiber was 161，100 tons， a year-on-year decrease of 21.20%， and the positive growth of 12.51% from January to March turned into a negative growth； the export of viscose filament yarn was 30，500 tons， a year-onyear decrease of 31.19%， the positive growth of 15.69% from January to March turned to a negative growth； the export of spandex was 33，700 tons， a year-on-year decrease of 9.99%， and the positive growth of 17.33% from January to March turned into a negative growth； among the main products， only the export volume of acrylic fiber maintained a growth trend with a year-on-year increase 20.37%， but the growth rate also dropped 124 percentage points than that from January to March.

The economic efficiency has been greatly improved compared with the first quarter.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics， from January to June， the chemical fiber industry achieved 349.4 billion yuan in revenue from its main business， a year-on-year decrease of 18.38%， the decline narrowed by 6.98 percentage points than that from January to March； the total profit realized was 7.234 billion yuan， a year-on-year decrease of 41.86%， the decline narrowed by 20.44 percentage points than that from January to March； the percentage of loss-making enterprises was 42.75%， which was 2.9 percentage points narrower from January to March， but the loss of loss-making enterprises increased by 71.69% year-on-year， and 18.02 percentage points from January to March. Except for spandex and polypropylene industry， the total profits of other major chemical fiber sub-sectors have all declined year-on-year， but the decline has narrowed to varying degrees.

The decline in total fixed asset investment has narrowed.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics， from January to June， the total fixed asset investment in Chinas chemical fiber industry fell by 16.9% year-onyear， and the decline narrowed by 6.3 percentage points than that from January to May and 2.3 percentage points than that from January to March. This shows that with the improvement of the domestic pandemic， the investment willingness and investment actions of chemical fiber companies have recovered in the second quarter.

On the whole， although some indicators showed signs of recovery in the first half of the year， the impact caused by the pandemic still exists. It is expected that the chemical fiber industry will still face greater challenges in maintaining stable operations throughout the year.