In the context of complex domestic and international situations and high base of the previous year, China's clothing exports will still achieve a certain growth in 2022, but the growth rate will drop significantly. According to the statistics of China's customs, from January to December, China's clothing (including clothing accessories, the same below) exports totaled US $175.4 billion, up 3.2% year on year, and the growth rate continued to slow by 1.4 percentage points compared with the previous 11 months. In November and December, clothing exports were US $13.12 billion and US $14.29 billion respectively, down 14.5% and 10.1% year-on-year. Compared with the 16.8% decline in October, the downward trend slowed slightly.
From the perspective of quarterly trend, China's clothing exports in the four quarters of 2022 were 7.4%, 16.1%, 6.3% and - 13.9% year on year respectively, with a significant decline in the fourth quarter. However, due to the high growth rate in the early period, the clothing exports in the whole year still achieved a growth of 3.2%, which was hard won. In the three years since the epidemic, China has reversed the declining trend of clothing exports after reaching the peak in 2014, and the export scale has increased by about 20% compared with 2019 before the epidemic, which fully reflects the characteristics of China's clothing industry with great resilience, full potential and strong competitiveness under the impact of the global supply chain and the imbalance between supply and demand in the market since the outbreak of the epidemic.
Looking forward to the future, under the multiple pressures of weak international demand, overseas low-cost competition, intensified trade friction, and "de-chinesization" of the supply chain, China's clothing export industry will face more severe challenges.
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China's clothing exports in the first 11 months
Price drives export growth, and the performance of knitting is weaker than that of woven
From January to November 2022, the export of knitted clothing reached 72.29 billion US dollars, up 6.3% year on year. The export volume was 19.83 billion pieces, down 0.7% year on year, and the export price increased 7.4% year on year. The export of woven clothing was 67.97 billion US dollars, an increase of 11% year on year. The export quantity was 11.75 billion pieces, a decrease of 2.7% year on year, and the export price increased significantly by 14%. The export of clothing accessories reached US $15.26 billion, up 13.8% year on year.
In November, the export of all major categories of clothing fell. The export of knitted clothing fell by 18.1%, the export of woven clothing fell by 10.5%, and the export of clothing accessories fell by 4.5%. Affected by the "Xinjiang Related Act", the export of cotton knitted and woven clothing decreased by 28.8% and 23.1% respectively in November, of which the export of cotton knitted and woven clothing to the United States decreased by 35.1% and 30.1% respectively.
The export of commuting, sports and outdoor clothing grew rapidly
The export of commuting, sports, outdoor and cold-proof clothing maintained a rapid growth. From January to November, the export of shirts, overcoats/winter clothes, scarves/ties/handkerchiefs increased by 29.9%, 22% and 22.1% respectively. The export of sportswear, dresses, T-shirts, sweaters, socks and gloves increased by more than or close to 10%. The export growth of suits/casual suits, trousers and bras was less than 5%. The export of underwear/pajamas and baby clothing decreased slightly.
In November, exports of other categories declined except shirts, sportswear and scarves/ties/handkerchiefs, which grew by 5.1%, 1.9% and 18.4% respectively. The export of suits/casual suits, underwear/pajamas decreased by more than 20%, and the export of overcoats/winter clothes, dresses, sweaters, pants, corsets and baby clothes decreased by more than 10%.
Decrease in exports to the United States
Exports to ASEAN, Latin America and Central Asia are growing well
In January-November, China's exports to the United States were US $35.7 billion, down 1.1% year on year, and its exports to the EU, ASEAN and Japan were US $31.12 billion, US $14.98 billion and US $13.61 billion, up 6.7%, 25.1% and 0.2% year on year respectively. Under the favorable effect of the effective implementation of RCEP, the ASEAN market has shown great development potential.
From the perspective of major export regional markets, from January to November, exports to Latin America increased significantly by 20.3%, exports to Africa decreased by 11%, exports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" increased by 14%, and exports to RCEP member countries increased by 10.9%. From the perspective of major single country markets, exports to Kyrgyzstan increased by 79.2%, exports to South Korea and Australia increased by 3.7% and 16.2% respectively; Exports to the UK, Russia and Canada fell 9.9%, 18.5% and 15.9% respectively.
In November, exports to major markets declined. Exports to the United States fell by 19.4%, which has declined for four consecutive months, but the decline has slowed down from 35.6% last month. Exports to the EU fell by 18.7%, falling for three consecutive months, slower than the 33% decline of the previous month. Exports to ASEAN fell by 5.4% for the first time. Exports to Japan also increased to a decrease, down 16.8%.
Zhejiang and Xinjiang's exports rose against the trend
Guangdong and Fujian's exports declined
From January to November, Zhejiang's clothing exports reached 32.51 billion US dollars, up 15.6% year on year, 11 percentage points higher than the national average growth rate, accounting for 20.2% of the national clothing exports. Guangdong ranked second, with exports down 7.6%. Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian ranked third to fifth, with 1.1%, 7% and - 9.3% respectively year on year. Xinjiang's exports increased by 74.9%, surpassing Shanghai and ranking sixth. The export of Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan and other central and western regions increased rapidly, with year-on-year growth of 25.2%, 41.8% and 22.9% respectively.
In November, the top five export regions fell. The exports of Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Fujian decreased by 0.9%, 15.5%, 25.2%, 13.6% and 27.5% respectively. Some central and western provinces and cities still maintained rapid growth, with exports from Xinjiang and Guangxi increasing by 18.7% and 56.5% year on year.
Significant decline in market share in North America
The share in the EU and Japan is basically stable
From January to October, China accounted for 23.6%, 30.5%, 55.3%, 26.5%, 31.9%, 32.9% and 61.5% of the market share of clothing imports from the United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada respectively, with a year-on-year decrease of 4.5, 0.3, 0.9 and 4.2 percentage points in the United States, the European Union, Japan and Canada, and a year-on-year increase of 4.2, 0.1 and 0.9 percentage points in the United Kingdom, South Korea and Australia respectively.
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International market situation
Imports from major markets maintained growth
From January to October 2022, the import of clothing from the United States, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea and Australia increased by 14.2%, 17.2%, 2%, 16.8%, 15.7%, 19.7% and 11% respectively.
Due to the sharp depreciation of the euro and the yen against the US dollar, the import growth of the EU and Japan in US dollars narrowed. From January to October, EU clothing imports increased by 32.9% in euros, far higher than the 17.2% increase in dollars. Japanese clothing imports increased by only 2% in US dollars, but by 22.7% in Japanese yen.
Exports from Southeast Asia and South Asia soared
In 2022, Vietnam, Bangladesh and other major clothing exports could recover and expand rapidly, and the export showed a rapid growth trend. From January to October, the world's major markets imported US $33.17 billion of clothing from Vietnam, up 26.3% year on year. The imports of the United States, the European Union, Japan and South Korea from Vietnam increased by 30.5%, 24.8%, 12.1% and 19.1% respectively. The world's major markets imported US $39.2 billion of clothing from Bangladesh, a year-on-year increase of 41.1%. The imports of the EU, the United States and the United Kingdom from Bangladesh increased by 41.9%, 48.2% and 53.4% respectively.
From January to October, the market share of Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India in the United States increased by 2.1, 2, 1.1 and 1.1 percentage points respectively year on year, the market share of Bangladesh in the European Union increased by 3.7 percentage points year on year, and the market share of Vietnam in Japan increased by 1.4 percentage points.