Production of nonwoven fabric increased, but production index kept at a low level

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that in the first three quarters of this year, nonwoven fabric producers above designated size (with annual turnover more than CNY 20 million) produced near 3.21 million tons of nonwoven fabric, up 15.57% over the same period of last year, accelerating about 6 percentage points compared to the first-half year and over 10 percentage points compared to same period of last year. All major nonwoven fabric producing provinces/autonomous regions maintained steady growth, and especially, the nonwoven fabric production in Shandong Province increased nearly 30%, consolidating its position as the number one nonwoven fabric producer in China.

According to a survey conducted by China Nonwovens and Industrial Textile Association (CNITA), the production index of the industry in the first three quarters is 61.2, still within the growing range, but it is lower than the 67.3 in the first-half year, staying at bottom level in recent years. The low production index can be explained by both the slower growth of domestic demand resulting from the downward pressure of domestic macro-economy and the weaker demand of major economies in the world.

Both fixed-asset investment and the number of newly-launched projects increased, while the growth of prime business revenue slowed down.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China's technical textile sector invested CNY 49.12 billion in fixed assets in the first nine months, up 23.26% year-on-year; the number of newly-launched project increased 18.34%, both improved compared with the figures for the first-half year, but declined compared with same period of last year. The investment in nonwoven fabric sector accelerated from 7.17% in the first half to 15.54%, while the decline in the number of newly-launched projects narrowed from 9.5% to 0.4%.

In January-September, the economic performance of the technical textile industry continued to improve. Figures from the NBS show that enterprises above designated size earned CNY 212.7 billion of prime business revenue and CNY 12.3 billion of profits, up 6.76% and 15.98% year-on-year respectively, both accelerating over 1 percentage point compared to the first-half year and the profit rate of the industry is up to 5.78%. The prime business revenue continued to grow at lower than 10%. This is a reflection of not only the slower growth of demand, but also the declined selling prices of finished products as a result of dropping raw material prices. But the profitability of the industry has improved, offering opportunity for the industry's restructuring.

Exports grew steadily with the recovery of US market and import of diapers increased sharply

In the first three quarters, China's exports of technical textiles dropped slightly by 0.91% from a year earlier to US$ 15.28 billion. Among major exported products, only the exports of medical and hygienic textiles as well as awnings increased in value term, while the exports of other products dropped by various degrees. For example, the exports of plastic-coated fabric and nonwoven fabric dropped by 3.3% and 3.2% respectively. Quantity growth remains the main engine for pushing up the export value. Market-wise, thanks to its economic recovery, the US market plays an important role in maintaining the steady growth of China's technical textile exports. In January-September, China's export to the US market grew 6.9% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the exports to Vietnam and the ROK edged up 1.9% and 3.7% respectively; China's technical textile export to Japan, the second largest market, dropped by 3.8%, and the exports to India and Germany declined 11.2% and 9.3% respectively.

In the first three quarters, China's import of technical textiles grew 5.34% year-on-year to US$ 3.39 billion. The rising import is mainly contributed by the 87.8-percent rise in the import of diapers. Without the diaper import, the total import would drop 9.3% from a year earlier.

Along with the further restructuring of China's economy and the changes of global economic environment, China's technical textile sector has also changed the situation of high-speed growth of all indices and presented a more complicated operating mode. But it has maintained the healthy and steady developing trend, with growing speed and performance better than the average of entire textile industry. It is predicted that the industry will maintain such trend in the fourth quarter of this year.

Source: China Textile Leader Express