-----Statistics Center of China National Textile and Apparel Council

2009 was undoubtedly a difficult year for textile machinery industry. Both export and import declined dramatically due to weakened global market demand. In the whole year of 2009, accumulated export and import value of textile machinery reached $3.797 billion , dramatically declined by 29.35% as compared with last year. Separately, exported value reached $1.211 billion , down by 22.6% and imported value reached $2.598 billion , down by 32.11%.

Fig.1 Cumulative Import and Export Change: Jan. 2008 – Dec. 2009

Since the beginning of 2009, textile machinery export kept declining although the declining magnitude continuously diminished. Specifically, knitting and hosiery machinery export declined by 3.64%, auxiliaries and accessories export declined by 25.49%, dyeing, printing and finishing machinery export declined by 34.05%, spinning machinery export declined by 56.38% while weaving machinery export rose by 35.33%, chemical fiber machinery export declined by 12.1%, nonwoven machinery export declined by 41.65% and weaving preparatory machinery export declined by 36.7%.

Fig.2 Monthly Export Change since 2007

December, 2009 was the second month after November witnessing positive export growth with $137 million exported, dramatically rose by 50.26%.

Imported value of textile machinery in the year 2009 drooped 32.11% as compared with last year. Since after July, 2008, the import of textile machinery indicated consistent decline which is extremely rare. Judging from the current unpredictable economic situation, a sudden holistic positive growth would be of slight possibility. Specifically, knitting machinery import declined by 19.2%, dyeing, printing and finishing machinery import declined by 26.63%, auxiliaries and accessories import declined by 1.63%, spinning machinery import declined by 42.64%, weaving machinery import declined by 57.25%, chemical fiber machinery import declined by 47.92%, nonwoven machinery import increased by 4.17% and weaving preparatory machinery import declined by 71.07%.

Fig.3 Monthly Import Change since 2007

Trade deficit of China’s textile machinery industry in the year 2009 was $1.225 billion, declined by 40.21% year on year.

Fig.4 Monthly Trade Deficit Change since 2007

Source: China Textile Leader