The implementation of a facilitating consumption policy, the overseas inventory replenishment effect, and the low base in 2023 helped narrow the decline in China’s apparel exports from January to November last year; output, investment, efficiency, and other key operating indicators improved significantly. However, affected by the relatively weak market exception, insufficient consumption willingness, and the involution-type development, the growth rate of domestic sales slowed down.

01 Production

According to the National Bureau of Statistics data, the industrial added value of apparel enterprises above the designated size increased by 0.7% year-on-year in the January to November period, 0.2 percentage points faster than the first ten months of 2024. The garment output of enterprises above the designated size reached 18.57 billion pieces, up by 3.94% year-on-year, 0.48 percentage points slower than the first ten months of 2024.

02 Domestic Sales

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to November 2024, China’s total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 44.27 trillion yuan, up 3.5% year over year. Among them, the cumulative retail sales of apparel goods above designated size totaled 949.3 billion yuan, and its growth rate slipped by 0.6 percentage points compared to January-October. In addition, the online retail sales of wearable goods grew by 2.8% year-on-year growth, 1.9 percentage points lower than the same period from January to October.

03 Export

According to the Customs Newsletters, China’s apparel and accessories exports totaled US$144.22 billion from January to November 2024, decreasing by 0.2% year over year and narrowing by 0.5 percentage points compared with January-October. In November alone, apparel exports amounted to US$13.02 billion, up by 4.3% year over year and 3.8 percentage points slower than in October of 2024.

04 Benefit

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to November, the main business income of apparel enterprises above the designated size totaled about 1.13 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 2.58%, 0.53 percentage points higher than the first ten months of 2024. The total profit was 54.95 billion yuan, growing by 3.94% year-on-year. The operating margin was 4.83%, 0.06 percentage points higher than that of 2023.

05 Investment

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, fixed-asset investment in China’s garment industry surged 18.2% year-on-year from January to November last year, 0.7 percentage points higher than in the first ten months of the year.

Source: CHINA TEXTILE LEADER Express