China Textile Dyeing/Printing Assistant Sector Is Big but Not Strong Imperative to Change

By Kang Baoxiang and Tian Liming, China Dyestuff Industry Association

The unstableness in purchase orders of textiles and clothes in China caused by the growth reduction of the Chinese economy and the slackness of the foreign economy directly brought many uncertain factors to the dyestuff production in China in 2012. The growth of the dyestuff sector in China was slowed down. The export amount of dyes made a drop and the profit-making ability in enterprises was down. Problems in the operation of small and medium enterprises were even more conspicuous.
   The overall trend of the textile dyeing/printing assistant sector in China was basically identical to the dyestuff sector. The performance of the textile dyeing/printing assistant sector presented a declining trend. The market demand in both domestic and overseas markets came down and enterprises had a hard time in operation. Both the import and the export showed a reduction, indicating that both domestic and overseas markets had shrinkage and the total demand fell. Judging from the ongoing trend, there will still be a status of low-speed growth in 2013.

1. Slight pickup of the export price

The total export amount of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China was 29 000 tons, a drop of 5.2% from the previous year. There was negative growth in the export of textile dyeing/printing assistants for 4 consecutive years after the global financial crisis in 2008. The export amount in 2009 was down 21.2% year on year. The export amount in 2010 was 1.8% lower than the previous year. The export amount in 2011 fell 31.2% from a yea earlier. The foreign exchange gained from export considerably reduced, from US$120.0 million in 2008 to US$71.0 million in 2012. The entire textile dyeing/printing assistant sector in China was greatly affected.
   There were 80 destinations for the export of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China in 2012, being 4 more than 2011. The amount exported to the top 10 destinations was 23 000 tons, accounting for 80% of the total. The foreign exchange gained from the top 10 destinations was US$58.33 million, accounting for 82.2% of the total. All the top 10 destinations were located in Asia. The amount exported to the Asian region accounted for 93.1% of the total. In all the destinations, the amount exported to Indonesia surged 60% from a year earlier, as a result, Indonesia is the country worth great attention of Chinese textile dyeing/printing assistants exporters. Hong Kong was still the biggest transit port for the export of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China. It has held the first place for quite a few years. Singapore quitted from the first 10 places. Malaysia, instead, held the 10th place. See Table 1 for detail.
   
Table 1  Top 10 Destinations for the Export of Textile Dyeing/Printing Assistants in China in 2012
Destination    Export amount(ton)    YoY Growth(%)    Valuation(US$ million)    YoY Growth (%)
Hong Kong    6451.3    -20.32    18.2893    -12.67
Bangladesh    2805.8    13.68    4.3890    2.16
Thailand    2523.9    -2.07    5.5483    -0.53
India    2338.0    5.97    6.4552    13.48
Indonesia    2266.8    59.99    3.7076    45.63
Taiwan Province    2252.4    -9.11    4.7810    -9.85
Korea    1151.2    -10.23    5.16 80    0.66
Vietnam    1107.8    -17.50    5.8177    -9.87
Japan    1056.0    -9.62    2.9622    -0.40
Malaysia    946.9    30.45    1.2067    43.51
   
   The export price of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China was picked up slightly in 2012. The average export price was US$2 459 per ton, being 1.8% higher than 2011 (US$2 416 per ton in 2011). With the upgrading of the manufacturing level and the increase of various costs, the export price of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China increased year-on-year in recent years.

2. Evident reduction of the import amount

The total import amount of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China was 59 000 tons in 2012, a drop of 9.9% from the previous year. The foreign exchange spent in import was US$229.0 million, falling 14.7% YoY. It showed that the demand in the domestic textile dyeing/printing assistants market reduced significantly.
   There were 37 sources for the import of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China in 2012, being 4 more than 2011. The amount imported from the top 10 sources was
52 000 tons, accounting for 88% of the total. The valuation in the top 10 sources was US$203.0 million, accounting for 88.7% of the total. The first 3 sources remained to be Taiwan Province, India and Japan, all located in Asia. The amount imported from these 3 countries and region accounted for 55.3% of the total. See Table 2 for detail.
   The average import price of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China was US$3 876 per ton in 2012, being 5.6% lower than 2011 (US$4 104 per ton in 2011). With the increase of raw materials costs, the import price of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China has presented a constant rising trend in recent years. However, the import price of textile dyeing/printing assistants in 2012 represented a year-on-year decrease.

3. Lack of product innovation

In recent years, especially after the global financial crisis in 2008, the import and export of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China has presented a constant declining trend, down nearly 50% from 2008 to 2012, particularly showed a negative growth for several years running. The export of textile dyeing/printing assistants has been greatly affected. There is a considerable gap in the manufacturing technology and the product quality of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China compared with the world advanced level. In China only a few enterprises have formed large-scale production, the industrial structure needs readjustment and products lack innovation. The output can basically meet the needs in the textile sector, but high-grade special textile dyeing/printing assistants with high technical content still have to be imported from abroad in great quantities. Producers of textile dyeing/printing assistants in China are mostly private enterprises. Joint venture companies and wholly foreign-owned firms only account for 8-10%. Around 80% of products use surfactants as basic raw materials. Only 20% of products are functional varieties. There are nearly 100 categories and 15 000 varieties of textile dyeing/printing assistants in the world today. Textile dyeing/printing assistants produced in China, however, only have 29 categories and 1 500 varieties, lagging far behind the world advanced level. The production of high-performance organosilicon and organofluorine finishing agents, enzymatic preparations and resins are made by American, European and Japanese companies.
   Most quality indexes for textile dyeing/printing assistants produced in China are conventional and general-purpose indexes. There is a lack of characteristic indexes and unified identifiers. Some existing industrial standards such as those for fixing agents, softening agents and dispersing agents can no longer meet the market needs today.
   The dyeing/finishing sector in China is going all out to disseminate and use the clean production process. In addition to fastness and service property as required by the dyeing/finishing sector, textile dyeing/printing assistants and dyes must also meet some specific quality indexes such as great safety, biodegradability, no environmental hormones and heavy metal ions and the mass fraction of formaldehyde not exceeding the limit. The use of textile dyeing/printing assistants containing carcinogenic AOX and PCD must be prohibited. Environmental protection and green production will become a mainstream in the development of textile chemicals in China.

Table 2  Top 10 Sources for the Import of Textile Dyeing/Printing Assistants in China in 2012
Source    Import amount (ton)    YoY Growth (%)    Valuation (US$ million)    YoY Growth (%)
Taiwan Province    12228.9    -1.23    28.2722    -8.09
India    11541.5    20.40    18.5602    19.49
Japan    8868.7    -26.12    79.5165    -21.95
Germany    6245.5    -11.80    28.8474    -4.48
Korea    5278.5    -7.24    20.4798    -6.02
USA    2840.7    -38.73    14.9277    -34.84
Vietnam    1633.5    -22.56    2.6438    -13.56
Italy    1279.8    30.05    4.2726    34.57
Netherlands    1067.4    -28.21    4.1350    -31.71
Thailand    995.9    -9.81    1.1228    -20.81