The export resilience of my country’s filament weaving industry has exceeded market expectations and achieved good results in 2022.
According to China Customs data, from January to October 2022, my country’s export volume of chemical fiber filament fabrics totaled 18.119 billion meters, a year-on-year increase of 15.65% and a year-on-year increase of 28.42% over the same period in 2019; the average export price was US$0.95/meter, a year-on-year increase of 9% and an increase of 6.74% compared with the same period in 2019.
Although the exports of the filament weaving industry have achieved year-on-year growth and the market popularity has increased, it cannot be denied that the homogeneous competition in the industry is still relatively serious. Industry experts said that the future development focus of the filament weaving industry needs to shift from the expansion of production capacity to technological progress and upgrading, product development and innovation.
Don’t be impulsive as the market picks up
“The gratifying growth in foreign trade not only proves that my country’s filament weaving industry is a textile industry with international competitive advantages, but also reveals the international community’s attitude toward chemical fiber filaments. The demand for fabrics is still growing and has not yet been affected by international political and economic factors.” Wang Jiayi, President of the China Filament Weaving Association, said that in 2022, my country’s filament weaving industry withstood the test and survived the difficult moment with resilience and patience. , the development of the industry shows a trend of stability and progress. From 2020 to 2022, the exports of the filament weaving industry have continued to maintain steady growth.
In general, although the filament weaving industry has been slightly less profitable in the past year due to factors such as high and volatile raw material prices and increased labor costs, many industry experts have analyzed that the industry is building The bottom may have been completed, and the market will enter the market recovery stage in 2023.
However, in the face of market recovery, relevant experts from the China Filament Weaving Association do not agree with corporate investment strategies shifting from defense to offense.
“As of the end of 2019, the scale of my country’s filament weaving industry reached 700,000 looms, of which 640,000 were water-jet looms. my country’s chemical fiber filament fabric production that year was 55 billion meters. As of 2021 At the end of the year, the scale of my country’s filament weaving industry reached 795,000 looms, of which 730,000 were water-jet looms. The output of filament fabrics that year was 55.7 billion meters. Comparing these two sets of data, we can find that in the international political and economic turmoil, etc. Under the influence of factors, the scale of my country’s water-jet looms is still expanding at an average annual rate of 6.8%, while output is only growing at an average annual rate of 0.6%.” Zhang Cheng, assistant president of the association, told the China Textile News reporter that due to the long-term The silk weaving industry has low investment, high efficiency, and relatively low entry barriers. In recent years, production capacity has expanded significantly, but the growth rate of output has slowed down. This also means that the industry-wide operating rate is obviously insufficient, and new production capacity cannot be effectively released.
To this end, the China Filament Weaving Association recently held a special review and passed the “Initiative on Avoiding Blind Investment” (hereinafter referred to as the “Initiative”) at the third session of the Standing Council. The “Initiative” proposes that the production capacity of the filament weaving industry should not grow too fast, but should maintain a reasonable speed and keep pace with market demand.
It is difficult to make a profit if you expand too fast
As soon as the Initiative was released, it aroused attention and discussion in the industry.
“In the past few years, we have always said that industry demand continues to decrease, but this may not be just a problem of insufficient demand.” Qian Xialan, the relevant person in charge of Rudong Yilan Textile Co., Ltd., said that the industry is in trouble , not simply because demand is suppressed, but market supply also exceeds actual demand.
“The low threshold for engaging in the filament weaving industry is the main reason for the explosive growth of weaving companies in the past period.” Zhou Zhengxu, general manager of Nantong Hengchang Textile Co., Ltd., said frankly that a few years ago, companies only needed With certain financing capabilities, you can purchase a dozen looms for five to six million yuan and enter this industry on a small scale. “The equipment can be paid in installments, and the technical requirements are not high. They can be easily operated.”
Irrational investment is also the root cause of the industry’s difficulties. “Judging from many years of industry experience, as long as the market rebounds slightly, companies will soon expand production.” The person in charge of Yongshang Textile Co., Ltd. gave an example. In the second half of 2019, as downstream customers tried to develop new products to drive consumption, The increase in varieties led to an increase in demand for gray fabrics, and the market liquidity suddenly improved, resulting in the addition of about 2,000 looms in the local area. However, this prosperous period only lasted a few months.
If production capacity grows too fast, product prices will come under pressure. According to monitoring data from SunSirs, since January 2023, my country’s polyester filament market prices have maintained a slight upward trend. Among them, polyester POY increased by 4.35%, polyester FDY increased by 3.5%, and polyester DTY increased by 2.92%.
However, although the price of textile raw materials has made a good start, the price of fabrics has never improved. A person in charge of a filament weaving company in Shengze, Jiangsu, who did not want to be named, revealed that his factory has received orders one after another, but his mood is not very bright.
“After the Lantern Festival, we probably received more than 1 million meters of fabric orders. The average price is between 3 yuan/meter and 4 yuan/meter. The profit is very thin, mainly based on the running volume, and the average machine efficiency is only 50 yuan/day. Now the price of gray fabrics cannot rise at all. Market prices are generally low. Although there are rumors of price increases, there are very few real price increases.” The person in charge said, “It is like the market only needs 10 million meters of fabrics. , but now there are 11 million meters circulating in the market, we cannot think that only the 1 million meters of cloth are affected, and the remaining 10 million meters cannot be sold at a good price.”
According to samples monitored by China Silk Capital Network It can be seen from the number of days of enterprise inventory that the current inventory of local weaving enterprisesThe number of storage days is still at a high level of 35.5 days.
Don’t follow the old path and innovate the path
If you can’t do what you want, you should seek others from yourself.
“This year’s market situation once again proves that ordinary low-end products are facing unprecedented fierce competition. Once companies start to compete on price and preserve production and retain employees, they will become passive and have an adverse impact on the entire industry.” Zhang Cheng pointed out that when the market supply exceeds demand, if the supply and demand relationship is not actively adjusted and companies only rely on “cost reduction and efficiency improvement”, it is easy for enterprises to enter the dilemma of cost reduction-price reduction-loss.
Faced with this situation, many companies have shifted their development focus from the expansion of production capacity to technological progress, products and innovation.
“If you keep following your old path, you may be eliminated by the market. While seeking stability, companies must also innovate. If there are no new varieties, these conventional products will have no profit points. The second is that it will be eliminated by customers at any time.” Qian Xialan said that the company will not follow the trend of production when the market is good, so that when the market is not ideal, the company can maintain stable development and provide high-quality products and innovative products. Thinking at customer service.
“Enterprises must regard product innovation as a top priority for development. At present, large-scale mass production of popular goods is absolutely impossible. Enterprises must actively focus on product innovation and proactively promote equipment upgrades and technology Transformation to achieve effective improvement of core competitiveness and upgrading and transformation of the industry as a whole.” Zhang Cheng said.
Wang Jiayi affirmed the performance of filament weaving enterprises in terms of product innovation and technological progress in the past year. He introduced that as of December 2022, there are 43 current National Bank group standards in the filament weaving industry, including 37 product standards, accounting for about 85% of the total standards.
Despite the impressive results, Wang Jiayi emphasized that product innovation will never end and the high-quality development of the industry has a long way to go. In the future, enterprises should also pay attention to the following aspects in the development of new products: formulate accurate and clear product positioning and brand positioning; timely extend the construction of the internal industrial chain of the enterprise; continue to promote the development of high-quality interwoven fabrics; increase the development of industrial textiles; Increase research and development of green and low-carbon products.
“At present and in the foreseeable future, technological innovation will continue to play a decisive role in the transformation and upgrading of the industry. Good filament fabrics are definitely not the result of weaving, but the entire process from raw material production to terminal consumption. The results of industrial chain improvement and investment. We hope that all companies will proactively conduct product research and development and seek a better future for China’s filament weaving industry in international competition.” Wang Jiayi said.
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