Weakened Demand & Declining Output in China’s Dyeing/Printing Sector

China Dyeing and Printing Association

China’s output of dyed/printed cloth in enterprises with considerable scale (annual sales of at least RMB200 000) was 50.95 billion meters in 2015, a drop of 5.07% from the previous year, and the growth was 2.57 percentage points slower than in 2014.
The output declined steadily 2011-2015, dropping from 59.3 billion meters in 2010 to 50.95 billion meters in 2015, due to lower market demand, higher production costs and greater pressure to protect the environment.
Nevertheless, domestic dyeing/printing enterprises started construction on 697 new projects in 2015, an increase of 19.76% over the previous year, and 687 projects were completed, an increase of 18.04%. Fixed-asset investments in the sector have increased quite rapidly in recent years; growth in 2015 was however 5.56 percentage points lower than in 2014.
The main-business revenue of dyeing/printing enterprises with considerable scale reached RMB390.56 billion in 2015, an increase of 4.25% over the previous year, 1.34 percentage points faster than 2014. The total profit achieved was RMB20.26 billion, an increase of 7.25% over the previous year, and growth was 4.52 percentage points faster than in 2014. With advances made in transformation, upgrading and restructuring, firms’ profitability is getting higher and higher.
The total foreign trade value of dyed/printed products in 2015 was US$26.62 billion, down 1.93% from the previous year, and growth was 10.49 percentage points slower than in 2014. The favorable trade balance was US$21.99 billion, an increase of 0.51% over the previous year, 12.69 percentage points slower than in 2014.
The import volume of dyed/printed products was 1.17 billion meters in 2015, a drop of 7.50% from the previous year and the growth was 3.68 percentage points higher than 2014. The import value was US$2.31 billion, a drop of 12.06% from the previous year and the growth was 4.82 percentage points lower than 2014.
The export volume of dyed/printed products was 20.66 billion meters in 2015, an increase of 1.79% over the previous year and the growth was 6.41 percentage points lower than 2014. The export value was US$24.31 billion, a drop of 0.84% from the previous year and the growth was 11.42 percentage points lower than 2014. The export volume and value of dyed/printed products has increased constantly from 2011. The average export price rose year-on-year during 2011-2014, but started to fall in 2015.
The top ten export markets for China’s dyed/printed products were Vietnam, Bangladesh, Benin, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico and the United States. The total amount exported to these markets was 8.86 billion meters, or 42.87% of the total export volume. The export value was US$11.61 billion, accounting for 47.77% of the total export value. Vietnam was still the biggest export market. Due to a slack market with disappointing demand, however, the growth of the volume exported to Vietnam in 2015 was 26.2 percentage points slower than 2014, while value grew 63.75 percentage points slower than in 2014.
The amounts exported to ASEAN and India increased 6.75% and 8.24% YoY, respectively, and the values both maintained double-digit growth, 10.59% and 11.07% YoY, respectively. The amount exported to Russia and its value both declined, by 21.4% and 12.24% YoY, respectively, year-on-year. Benefitting from the new China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, the proportion of China’s exported dyed/printed products that went to the ASEAN market grew constantly during 2008-2015.
Faced with environmental pressure and a lack of drivers for market demand, the dyeing/printing sector in China is accelerating transformation even further, upgrading and restructuring in 2016. Economic growth in the sector is expected to remain slow. Efforts to improve quality and financial returns will become even more prominent in 2016.
The export of dyed/printed products to Russia is expected to decline further this year, while export to India may keep growing.