The Zhitong Finance App learned that on April 9, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles released the national fabric import and export overview for January-February 2024. Data show that in January-February, textile and garment exports were 45.1 billion US dollars, up 14% year on year; textile exports were 21.71 billion US dollars, up 15.4% year on year; clothing exports were 23.38 billion US dollars, up 12.7% year on year. Among the four major categories of commodities, yarn exports decreased by 3.2%, fabric exports increased by 20.9%; exports of household textiles and knitted garments increased by 14.5% and 11.7%, respectively.

Judging from the overall export situation of yarn fabrics, the export scale of intermediate goods has been steadily expanding. From January to February 2024, our exports of intermediate goods amounted to US$12.74 billion, an increase of 16.1% over the previous year, mainly driven by fabric exports. Looking at specific products, yarn exports were 2.11 billion US dollars, down 3.2% year on year, and fabric exports were 10.63 billion US dollars, up 20.9% year on year. Intermediate goods account for 28.2% of textile and garment exports, an increase of 2 percentage points over 2023.

Judging from the import situation, our imports of intermediate goods increased dramatically. In January-February, imports of yarn fabrics totaled 1.17 billion US dollars, an increase of 22.5% over the previous year, mainly driven by yarn imports. Looking at specific products, yarn imports were US$820 million, up 48.3% year on year, and fabric imports were US$350 million, down 2% year on year.

Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2023, as policies to stabilize foreign trade deepened and became more practical, under the influence of positive factors such as continued digestion of European and American inventories and recovery in external demand, intermediate goods exports showed a positive trend. The export margin improved month by month. In December 2023, exports of intermediate goods stopped falling and rebounded, changing from negative to positive year-on-year. In January-February of this year, exports further continued this trend.

Judging from external demand and order conditions, J.P. Morgan's global manufacturing PMI hit 50 in January and rose to 50.3 in February, rising above the boom and dry line. China's manufacturing PMI index for March 2024 increased 1.7 points from the previous month to 50.8. Among them, the manufacturing new export orders index returned to the boom expansion range for the second time since May 2021 (the first time was the concentrated release of export orders in February and March last year), indicating that export demand was driving the manufacturing industry the most significantly.

Overall, in 2024, the improvement in domestic and foreign market demand will help the export recovery of intermediate goods and promote the recovery of industry revenue and profits. However, at present, international brands are still cautious about increasing orders, and the recovery of external demand is still facing uncertainty. Although exports of intermediate goods exceeded expectations in January-February and got off to a good start, it is still necessary to rule out factors such as the low export base for the same period in 2023 and the Spring Festival. It remains to be seen whether exports of intermediate goods can stabilize and strengthen in the first half of the year.

Asia is the main market for our fabric exports. From January to February 2024, we exported a total of 6.93 billion US dollars of fabrics to Asian countries, accounting for 65.2% of total fabric exports. Among the top ten target market exports, the Asian market occupied 8 seats. As our largest single market for fabric exports, Vietnam accounts for 21.1% of our fabric exports to the world, with an export value of US$1.47 billion, an increase of 13.8% over the previous year.

In January-February, the top ten markets all showed double-digit growth. Among them, growth was outstanding for Cambodia, India, and the United Arab Emirates, which grew by 44.2%, 45.7%, and 76.6%, respectively.

In terms of major products, exports of the two major categories of chemical fiber fabrics and cotton cloth in January-February were US$48.7 billion and 1.57 billion, respectively, up 27.4% and 3.2% respectively. Silk textile exports were US$50 million, a decrease of 16.7%; exports of wool and animal wool fabrics were US$40 million, a decrease of 2.1%.

The southeast coast is the main export region for fabrics. Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian, and Shanghai. The top five export provinces together account for more than 85%. Exports from all provinces and cities all showed double-digit growth, with exports from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Fujian and Shanghai increasing by 29%, 26.9%, 14.5%, 18.5%, and 17.6%, respectively.