According to the statistics released by the General Administration of Customs, in the first three quarters of this year, China’s exports of textiles and apparel totaled US$ 248.35 billion, seeing a year-on-year increase of 9.1% (10.4% in CNY-denominated terms). Among them, textile exports totaled US$ 114.33 billion, up by 8.7% year-on-year (9.7% in CNY-denominated terms). And apparel exports reached US$ 134.02 billion, which grew by 9.4% year-on-year (11.1% in CNY-denominated terms).

Since the second half of 2022, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, high inflation in many countries, and monetary and fiscal policy adjustments have changed the purchasing power of main overseas markets and consumption structure significantly, which brought great pressure on China’s textile and apparel industry. In September alone, the exports of China’s textile and apparel were US$ 28.05 billion, down by 3.7% year-on-year (but it grew by 0.8% in CNY-denominated terms). Thereinto, textile exports reached US$ 12.07 billion, down by 2.7% year-on-year; apparel exports were US$ 15.98 billion, declining by 4.4% year-on-year.

The exports of China’s textile industry to major international destinations have maintained steady growth this year. The China Customs data revealed that from January to August, China’s exports of textiles and apparel to the United States were US$ 38.58 billion, up by 7.8% year-on-year; exports to the ASEAN reached US$ 36.94 billion, grew by 23.3% year-on-year. Among the ASEAN member countries, China’s exports of textiles and apparel to Vietnam were US$ 12.06 billion, accounting for 32.7% of the total. During the same period, the exports to Malaysia, Thailand, and Myanmar all surged more than 40% year-on-year. In the first eight months, China’s exports of textiles and apparel to the European Union totaled US$ 34.04 billion, up by 13.2% year-on-year. Among them, exports to Italy and Spain grew at a rate of about 25%. In addition, exports of textiles and apparel to Japan were US$ 12.96 billion, up by 1.3% year-on-year.

The implementation of the RCEP agreement has boosted regional economic and trade cooperation, providing new impetus for the region’s recovery and development. From January to August, China’s exports of textiles and apparel to RCEP member countries totaled US$ 62.15 billion, up by 15.7% year-on-year. And the exports to the countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reached US$ 83.53 billion, seeing a year-on-year increase of 18.3%.