The COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020 has brought unprecedented impact on China’s economic development. Statistics show that the main economic indicators of the textile machinery industry showed a sharp decline in the first quarter. The export and import of textile machinery also declined to varying degrees. The industry’s production and operation are facing a huge test.

According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to March 2020, 635 textile machinery enterprises above designated size achieved operating income of 12.211 billion yuan, a decrease of 38.90% year-on-year, and a growth rate of 36.63 percentage points lower than the same period last year. Total assets were 95.899 billion yuan, an increase of 9.79% year-on-year. Due to the severe impact of the global spread of the pandemic, the industry’s operating income declined significantly in the first quarter. The total profit achieved was 402 million yuan, a decrease of 67.34% year-on-year, and the operating income profit rate was 3.30%, which was 2.80 percentage points lower than the same period last year. The loss of loss-making enterprises was 317 million yuan, an increase of 163.71% year-on-year; the percentage of loss-making enterprises was 41.10%, an increase of 1.59 percentage points year-on-year. The percentage of loss-making enterprises in March decreased by 6.62% compared with February. With the gradual advancement of enterprises to resume production, industry operations are gradually recovering.

 

From January to March 2020, the total cost of textile machinery enterprises above designated size was 11.591 billion yuan, a decrease of 36.82% year-on-year, and the growth rate decreased by 50.51 percentage points year-on-year. Accounts receivable increased by 9.76% year-on-year, and inventories of finished products increased by 8.30%.

 

In 2020, the China Textile Machinery Association conducted a survey on the operation of 109 key textile machinery companies in the first quarter of 2020. Judging from the summary results, in the first quarter, over 70% of the enterprises’ operating income declined to varying degrees, 68.63% of the company’s orders fell by more than 50%, the prices of textile machinery products fell steadily, and the company’s inventory increased, 60% of the enterprises believed that the main problems they faced were the insufficient demand of the internal and external markets caused by the pandemic, the obstruction of sales channels and the cancellation of original orders. In the second quarter, spinning, chemical fiber and nonwovens machinery companies believe that orders will improve compared with the first quarter, and weaving, knitting, dyeing and finishing machinery companies believe that orders will continue to decline compared with the first quarter. For the situation of the textile machinery industry in the first half of 2020, 76% of the companies surveyed are not optimistic.

 

According to customs statistics, from January to March 2020, China’s total import and export of textile machinery was USD 1.332 billion, a decrease of 22.58% year-on-year. Among them: textile machinery imports of USD 654 million, down 20.17% year-on-year; exports of USD 679 million, down 24.77% year-on-year.

 

From January to March 2020, textile machinery was imported from 53 countries and regions, with a total import value of USD 654 million, a decrease of 20.17% year-on-year. The main countries and regions of textile machinery imports are mainly Japan, Germany, Italy, China Taiwan and Belgium. The top five imports of trade volume are USD 566 million, a decrease of 20.17% year-on-year, accounting for 86.62% of total imports.

 

From the perspective of imported product categories, chemical fiber machinery imports ranked first, with a total import of USD 240 million, an increase of 11.83% year-on-year, accounting for 36.77% of the total imports; except for chemical fiber machinery, other products have declined to varying degrees. Driven by downstream demand, chemical fiber machinery imports continued to maintain growth.

 

From January to March 2020, a total of USD 679 million of textile machinery was exported to 159 countries and regions, a decrease of 24.77% year-on-year. The top five countries in terms of export value are India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey and Japan. Their total amount accounts for 51.40% of the total export value. It is the main country and region in China’s textile machinery exports.

 

From the perspective of export categories, the export value of knitting machinery was USD 192 million, a decrease of 24.22% year-on-year, accounting for 28.26%, ranking first, followed by dyeing and finishing machinery, auxiliary devices and spare parts, weaving machinery, spinning machinery, chemical fiber machinery and nonwovens machinery.

 

The adjustment process of the domestic textile machinery market will continue in 2020, and the recovery of the international textile machinery market will also be affected by the global pandemic. In short, except for some subdivided industries, the textile machinery industry as a whole will face the problem of insufficient domestic and foreign market demand in 2020, and the development of enterprises will face challenges.

Source: China Textile Machinery Association