From January to July of 2021, the overall development quality and efficiency of China’s dyeing and printing industry continues to recover, and the operation of enterprises continues to improve. However, the influence of uncertain factors such as the pandemic at home and abroad and the flood in China, the growth rate of the main economic indicators of the industry has slowed down, and the industry is still facing pressure to achieve steady recovery.

Production continued to grow, and output growth fell

 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to July in 2021, the output of dyeing and printing cloth of enterprises above designated size in the dyeing and printing industry was 34.078 billion meters, an increase of 25.63 percent year-on-year, an average growth rate of 4.53 percent in two years, and an average growth rate of 5.2 percentage points lower than that from January to June. In July, affected by multiple factors, the 2-year average growth rate of dyeing and printing cloth production dropped from the previous month.

 

The quality and efficiency of development continue to recover, and the foundation for improvement still needs to be consolidated

 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to July 2021, the proportion of three expenses of enterprises above designated size in the dyeing and printing industry was 6.87 percent, 0.33 percentage points lower than last year, among which cotton dyeing and printing enterprises was 6.68 percent, chemical fiber dyeing and printing enterprises was 8.32 percent. finished products turnover was 18.23 times/year, 20.41 percent higher than last year; receivable turnover ratio was 8.45 times/year, 14.69 percent higher than last year; total assets turnover was 1.00 times/year, 16.36 percent higher than last year. Major operational quality indicators recovered significantly from the low base of the same period last year, but some indicators still lag far behind those in the pre-pandemic period. Compared with the same period in 2019, from January to July 2021, the proportion of three expenses of enterprises above designated size in the dyeing and printing industry increased by 0.19 percentage points, finished products turnover and total assets turnover decreased by 12.98 percent and 9.12 percent respectively, and receivable turnover ratio increased by 2.10 percent, reflecting that the current connection between production and sales of dyeing and printing enterprises is still not efficient and smooth.

 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to July 2021, 1,560 dyeing and printing enterprises above designated size achieved operating revenue of 157.834 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 25.36 percent, and a two-year average growth of -0.80 percent. The total profit reached 6.214 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 45.36 percent and a 2-year average growth of -6.41 percent; ratio of profits to cost and expense was 4.18 percent, 0.62 percentage points higher than last year; sales margins was 3.94 percent, 0.54 percentage points higher than last year; the number of loss-making enterprises was 430, the percentage of loss-making enterprises was 27.56 percent, 13.26 percentage points narrower than last year. The total loss of loss-making enterprises was 1.279 billion yuan, 35.68 percent less than last year; the export delivery value was 20.990 billion yuan, up 17.86 percent year-on-year, and the 2-year average growth rate was -5.62 percent. Compared with the same period in 2019, from January to July 2021, the ratio of profits to cost and expense of dyeing and printing enterprises above designated size decreased by 0.51 percentage points, sales margins decreased by 0.48 percentage points, the percentage of loss-making enterprises was expanded by 4.51 percentage points, and total loss increased by 8.08 percent. Although the main economic indicators of the industry still maintain a recovery growth trend, they have not recovered to the pre-pandemic level, and the foundation for the steady recovery of the industry is not yet firm.

 

At present, from the production point of view, the output of dyed and printed is resumed and exceeded the pre-pandemic level, however, there is still a gap in business revenue and profits from the pre-pandemic period, especially the profit gap is obvious, the main reason is that the prices of bulk commodities remain high, the price of dyeing and printing production raw materials rose sharply, superimposed on high international freight costs, and corporate costs remain high, meanwhile, the market competition is intense, the cost is difficult to transmit to the downstream, resulting in squeezing of the profit of dyeing and printing companies.

 

Exports are rising in both volume and price, but have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels

 

According to China Customs HS 8-digit statistics, the export volume of eight major categories of dyeing and printing products from January to July 2021 was 15.837 billion meters, a year-on-year increase of 33.54 percent, and a decrease of 7.12 percentage points from January to June; the export was USD 15.589 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35.22 percent, a decrease of 6.11 percentage points from January to June; the average unit price of exports was USD 0.98/meter, an increase of 1.25 percent year-on-year, and an increase of 0.78 percentage points from January to June. Compared with the same period in 2019, the export volume increased by 2.43 percent, the export fell by 1.04 percent, and the average unit price of exports fell by 3.39 percent. Exports continued to recover in the first half of the year, but the growth rate of exports slowed down compared with the first half of the year. At present, although industry exports have maintained good growth, export-oriented enterprises are still facing pressure from high international logistics costs and fluctuations in the RMB exchange rate.

 

Overall, from January to July 2021, the dyeing and printing industry continued to recover in the first half of the year, and the main economic indicators continued to improve. It is expected that global economic growth will further improve in the second half of the year and international market demand will continue to pick up. China’s macroeconomic recovery will continue to be consolidated, and domestic demand is expected to further improve. Dyeing and printing industry is expected to continue to recover in the second half of the year. In view of the high base factor in the second half of last year, and the recovery rate of growth will gradually become normal, it is expected that the growth rate of major economic indicators in the second half of the year will drop significantly.