In the first three quarters of this year, the utilization level of production capacity in the textile industry was within a reasonable range, and the overall production situation of the industry was stable. However, under the influence of complex factors such as the increasingly complex international situation and overall weak terminal demand, the production growth rate gradually slowed down. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the capacity utilization rates of the textile and chemical fiber industries above designated size in the first three quarters were 77.6% and 85.8%, respectively, both higher than the capacity utilization level of 74.2% in the national above designated industries during the same period. The industrial added value of enterprises above designated size in the textile industry increased by 2.1% year-on-year, with growth rates slowing down by 2.4 and 1 percentage point respectively compared to the same period last year and the first half of this year. Among the 15 major categories of textile products counted by the National Bureau of Statistics, the output of 7 categories of products increased year-on-year.
Domestic sales maintain moderate growth
Since the beginning of this year, the national special action to boost consumption has been solidly promoted, and the demand for residents' clothing consumption has continued to be released. The domestic sales of textiles and clothing in the first three quarters continued to show a moderate growth trend. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, and needle textiles above designated size reached nearly 1.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%, and a growth rate 2.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year. The online retail channels for textile and clothing continue to improve quarter by quarter. In the first three quarters, the retail sales of online clothing products in China increased by 2.8% year-on-year, with growth rates 2.9 and 1.4 percentage points higher than the first quarter and first half of this year, respectively. China-Chic, Guofeng, outdoor sports and other improved consumption areas continue to radiate vitality. The live broadcast e-commerce and other business models help the industry fully meet the diversified, high-quality and personalized consumption needs of residents, and drive the synchronous growth of online and offline sales of textile and clothing.
Since the beginning of this year, the international environment faced by the textile industry has been particularly complex and severe. Affected by the intensification of tariff games and the restructuring of the global textile supply chain, the industry's foreign trade situation is under pressure and fluctuating. According to the China Customs Express, the total export value of textiles and clothing in China in the first three quarters of this year was 221.69 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 0.3%, and the cumulative growth rate showed a negative growth trend for two consecutive months.
From the perspective of export product structure, China's main intermediate products such as synthetic short fibers and textile yarns have shown good growth momentum, driving the export value of textiles to 106.48 billion US dollars in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, which is an important support for the industry's export resilience under the severe foreign trade situation; However, under the influence of tariff disturbances, weak improvement in overseas market demand, and multiple repeated factors such as the continued destocking cycle of international brand merchants, as the "export rush" effect weakens, the pressure on clothing exports has become more prominent. The export volume in the first three quarters of this year was 115.21 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 2.5%, and the cumulative decline gradually deepened.
From the perspective of export market structure, China's exports of textiles and clothing to major global trading partners are accelerating differentiation. Affected by US tariff policies and verification of transit trade, China's exports to the United States and ASEAN have shown a significant reduction trend. In the first three quarters, the export value of textiles and clothing to the United States and ASEAN decreased by 10.1% and 4.7% year-on-year, respectively; Faced with the complex global trade environment, foreign trade enterprises actively promote market structure optimization and business layout adjustment, deeply expand diversified international markets, and gradually strengthen their support for industry exports. In the first three quarters of this year, textile and clothing exports to trading partner countries such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, Canada, Nigeria, and Chile achieved good growth.
Investment growth rate remains stable
With the support of the national "double" and "two new" policies, key enterprises have focused on key areas and weak links of the industrial chain since this year, and accelerated the upgrading of high-end, intelligent and green technologies. fixed assets investment in the textile industry has continued to grow steadily on the basis of the higher base of the previous year. In the first three quarters, the completed fixed assets investment in China's textile industry, clothing industry and chemical fiber industry (excluding farmers) increased by 11.2%, 14.8% and 11.6% year on year, respectively, of which the growth rate of chemical fiber industry investment continued to accelerate by 6.9% and 1 percentage point compared with the same period last year and the first half of this year, respectively. According to the survey on new fixed assets investment of key textile enterprises carried out by China Textile Confederation in the third quarter, 54.5% of the interviewed enterprises have deeply focused on the investment in capacity upgrading and transformation, and this proportion has increased quarter by quarter since this year, reaching a high level since the third quarter of 2023
The quality and efficiency of operation are still under pressure
Since the beginning of this year, due to factors such as weak terminal demand and increased export pressure, the competition in domestic and international markets for textile enterprises has become more intense, and there are many difficulties in production and operation. Supported by factors such as the partial suspension of tariffs imposed by the United States in the third quarter and the peak season for orders in the market, there are signs of a slight narrowing in the decline of some quality and efficiency indicators in the industry. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first three quarters of this year, the operating income of 38000 textile enterprises above designated size in China decreased by 3.8% year-on-year; Although the total profit still decreased by 7.2% year-on-year, the decline narrowed by 2.2 percentage points compared to the first half of this year. The performance of the main links in the industrial chain is under pressure and differentiated. The operating income of the filament weaving and industrial textile industries has maintained growth, but during the same period, there is still significant pressure to improve the performance of sub industries such as wool textile, knitting, printing and dyeing, and clothing. During the same period, the profit margin of operating income for textile enterprises above designated size was 3.1%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the same period last year; Affected by factors such as intensified market competition and rising inventory fluctuations, the total asset turnover rate and finished product turnover rate of enterprises above designated size have slowed down by 5.5% and 4% year-on-year, respectively; The three fee ratio is 6.5%, unchanged from the same period last year.
Complex situations temper development resilience, high-level self-reliance and self-improvement lead high-quality development
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter and 2026, there are still many unstable and uncertain factors facing the development of the textile industry, and maintaining stable operation faces many challenges. The overall international situation remains tense, with intensive adjustments to global tariff policies and continuous upgrading of trade barriers. The international economic and trade order is facing an important turning point, with slowing economic growth, weak improvement in terminal demand, and deep adjustment of the international textile supply chain becoming common expectations. The China US economic and trade game has entered a relatively relaxed stage, but the complex situation of competition and cooperation will continue for a long time. It cannot be ruled out that the fluctuation of the trade environment may make it difficult to completely alleviate the export pressure of the textile industry in the short term; China is currently in a critical stage of economic structural adjustment and the transformation of old and new driving forces. Domestic effective demand is still weak, and market competition pressure continues to increase. There are many difficulties in enterprise production and operation, and the recovery of benefits is relatively slow. Consolidating and improving development resilience and achieving high-quality development tasks are still arduous and urgent.
In the complex situation, the good resilience of China's macroeconomic environment and the super large scale and constantly upgrading domestic demand market will still be the core support for the textile industry to promote the construction of a modern industrial system, smooth the industrial and economic cycle, and achieve high-level self-reliance and self-improvement through deep transformation and upgrading. At present and during the 15th Five Year Plan period, based on the strategy of expanding domestic demand and the national special action to boost consumption, the industry will focus on expanding high-quality supply, and will make multidimensional efforts from brand leadership, standard upgrading, new technology application, and consumption scenario development to promote the expansion and upgrading of the textile and clothing consumption market; At the same time, the global textile industry chain and supply chain are synchronously adjusting with the domestic textile industry structure. High quality production factors will further accelerate their flow and allocation to high-efficiency enterprises, key links in the industry chain, and regions, effectively stimulating the vitality of independent innovation and industrial upgrading of enterprises, and hedging against downward risk pressure. In addition, there is still room for strengthening macro policies in China. With the deepening of the construction of a unified national market, the implementation of supporting policies such as capacity management in key industries and regulating market competition order will also provide strong policy guarantees for the textile industry to promote dynamic balance between supply and demand.
The textile industry will conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, adhere to the general tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, and focus on the development positioning of "science and technology, fashion, green, and health", enhance the endogenous driving force and reliability of the domestic circulation, firmly deepen transformation and upgrading, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, take efficient resource allocation as the direction, innovation and deep integration as the driving force, and independent and complete industrial chain as the support, continuously prevent and resolve foreign trade risks, continuously stabilize and improve development expectations, and lead high-quality development with high-level self-reliance and self-improvement support, making due contributions to promoting the stable and good economic operation of the industry throughout the year and achieving a good start for China's national economy and social development in the 15th Five Year Plan.
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