China Publishes Q1 Report on The Textile Industry Climate Index.

In the first quarter, the textile industry composite output index grew two points quarter on quarter to 100.7. Cloth output rose 11.7% from the previous quarter to 17.64 billion meters, while knitting wool output slumped 27.9% to 61,000 metric tons (tonnes). Wool fabric output dropped 19.3% to 107.274 million meters, but silk output surged 46.6% to 65,000 tonnes. Garment product output amounted to 6.23 billion units, down 2.6%. Output of chemical fiber products inched up 0.5% to 7.442 million tonnes.

By the end of the quarter, China had 5.7 million people working in the textile industry, up 0.3% from a year earlier. Employees of the garment making industry edged up 0.7% to 3.849 million, while those of the chemical fiber industry rose 4% to 412,000. The demand for labor in the textile industry is on the rise.

From January to March, China's textile industry realized exports of US$47.84 billion, up 29.1% on year and up 9.6% on month. The garment export amounted to US$31.65 billion, up 23.7% on year and up 9% on month. The export of chemical fiber industry reached US$4.24 billion, up 55% on year and up 17.6% on month.

During the three months, sales revenue of textile products reached RMB566.58 billion, up 26.4% year on year but down 9.9% quarter on quarter. That of garment products went up 23.3% year on year but down 8.7% quarter on quarter to RMB243.13 billion, while that of chemical fiber products leapt 45.1% year on year and 4.7% quarter on quarter to RMB108.05 billion.

The textile industry realized RMB21.96 billion of total profits in the first quarter, up 88.3% year on year but down 22.8% quarter on quarter. Profits of the garment industry went up 26.1% year on year but down 11.6% quarter on quarter to RMB12.43 billion, while those of the chemical fiber industry reached RMB4.11 billion, RMB360 million lower than the previous quarter.

The textile industry received RMB21.26 billion of fixed asset investment during the first quarter, up 31.8% year on year but down 55.2% quarter on quarter. Investment in the garment industry went up 20.7% year on year but down 52.8% quarter on quarter to RMB13.12 billion, while that in the chemical fiber industry increased 4.5% year on year but down 49% quarter on quarter to RMB3.61 billion.

The ex-factory price index of textile products reached 105.5 in the first quarter (the level in the same period of the previous year = 100), up 4.4 points from a quarter earlier. The ex-factory price index of garment products went up 1.5 points to 101.2, while that of chemical fiber products surged 14.2 points to 115.5.

By the end of the first quarter, the textile industry had total accounts receivable of RMB152.7 billion, up 10.8% year on year, which was 1.8 percentage points higher than the previous quarter. The figure for the garment industry was RMB76.28 billion, up 9.8% year on year, two percentage points narrower than the previous quarter, while that of the chemical fiber industry rose 7.9% to RMB17.58 billion, and the growth was 1.2 percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

The fund position of finished products reached RMB100.59 billion by the end of the first quarter, down 3% on year; that of garment making industry, RMB40.66 billion, down 1.3%; and that of chemical fiber industry, RMB20.33 billion, up 21.6%.

Some 20% of textile enterprises suffered losses in the first quarter, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous quarter. The losses amounted to RMB4.02 billion, down 34.1% year on year. As for the garment industry, loss coverage hit 21.1%, up 0.6 percentage points on quarter, with losses totaling RMB1.98 billion, up 5.7% on year. Loss coverage of the chemical fiber industry reached 20.4%, up 2.8 percentage points on quarter, with losses of RMB770 million, increasing RMB460 million on quarter.