In the first quarter, the production situation in China’s printing and dyeing industry is positive. The output of printed and dyed fabric has shown consistent growth, with a steady increase in the export scale of main products. There has been a gradual improvement in quality and efficiency, resulting in sustained growth in industry revenue and total profits. Corporate profitability has notably improved, setting a strong foundation for stable operations throughout the year.

I．Production

The data released by the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that the output of printed and dyed fabrics above the designated size in the printing and dyeing industry totaled 12.14 billion meters in the first quarter of 2024, up by 3.96% year-on-year, 4.23 percentage points and 2.66 percentage points higher than the first half and the whole year of 2023.

Textile and apparel consumption recovered continually, driving the growth in the printing and dyeing industry. In the first quarter of 2024, the per capita consumption expenditure on clothing was 492 yuan, seeing an increase of 12.4%.

II. Operation quality and efficiency

According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the share of three overheads in turnover was 7.64% in the first quarter of 2024, down 0.31 percentage points year-on-year. The turnover rate of finished products was 13.10 times/year, up 2.65% year-on-year; the turnover of accounts receivable was 7.90 times/year, seeing year-on-year growth of 6.94%; and the total asset turnover was 0.88 times/year, up 6.92% year-on-year. The key indicators for operational efficiency all showed improvement compared to the previous year, and the overall quality of business operations also increased gradually.

The data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the operating income of China’s printing and dyeing enterprises above the designated size totaled 68.07 billion in the first quarter of this year, seeing a year-on-year increase of 11.36%. Their profits totaled 2.06 billion yuan, surged by 111.53% year-on-year. Its ratio of profits to cost was 3.19%, up by 1.53 percentage points year-on-year. 43.28% of printing and dyeing enterprises operated in deficit, which decreased by 2.16 percentage points year-on-year.

With the gradual recovery of market demand, enterprise production is growing faster, and industry efficiency has significantly improved. Total profits have doubled compared to the same period of 2023, reaching the highest level since 2020. Moreover, the total losses of loss-making enterprises have been significantly reduced. However, it should also be noted that the current losses in the printing and dyeing industry remain high, exceeding those of the textile industry by 9.58 percentage points. Due to differences in products, sizes, and business models among printing and dyeing companies, there are profitability imbalances. This results in some small and medium-sized processing companies still operating at a loss.

III. Exports

According to the statistics released by China General Customs, the export volume of eight major categories of printed and dyed products, i.e., dyed cotton fabric, printed cotton fabric, dyed cotton-blended fabric, printed cotton-blended fabric, synthetic filament fabric, polyester staple fabric, printed and dyed T/C fabric, man-made staple fabric, totaled 7.58 billion meters in the first quarter of 2024, up by 6.54% year-on-year. 7.37 percentage points higher than that of the first three quarters of 2023. And the export value reached US$ 7.32 billion, seeing a year-on-year increase of 4.95%, 14.10 percentage points higher than the same period of 2023. The average export unit price was US$ 0.97/meter, declining by 1.49% year-on-year.

In the first quarter, exports of main printing and dyeing products continued to grow. This was partly due to the low base effect. During the same period last year, the printing and dyeing industry encountered difficulties in exporting its products, resulting in a decrease in the volume of exports. The other factor is that external demand has been showing positive trends since the beginning of this year, and the export situation is better than initially anticipated. It should be noted that, in the first quarter of 2024, the average unit price for eight major categories of printed and dyed products continued to decline. The export competition pressure in the industry has not been effectively alleviated.

Source: CHINA TEXTILE LEADER Express