Textile firms weave success despite pandemic

Orders rise for Chinese companies due to production delays in some countries

At an intelligent production workshop in the eighth branch of Anhui Huamao Group, a textile enterprise in Anqing, Anhui province, workers perform their tasks in an orderly manner as equipment whirls away 24 hours a day.

"Orders and customers have been increasing since September. Our order quantity is currently booked up to the end of 2020," said Sun Shanbiao, manager of the eighth branch.

The sharp increase in trade orders has two drivers.

First, the global online shopping carnival known as Singles Day held from Nov 1 to Nov 11 this year and created by Alibaba Group generated a lot of interest. Second, large numbers of orders were transferred from India to China due to India's severe COVID-19 situation, Sun said.

In October, China's textile exports reached $11.66 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 15.9 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Apparel exports stood at $13.18 billion, a year-on-year growth of 6.8 percent, while export growth continued to increase 0.3 percentage point compared with September, maintaining three consecutive months of positive growth.

"Since the second quarter, production, exports and circulation have gradually resumed due to the gradual control of COVID-19 in China," said Sun Huaibin, vice-chairman of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, who added that in addition, digitalization and intelligentization also continuously improved production efficiency and reduced costs.

The same situation happened at Senru Textile Co Ltd in Keqiao district, Shaoxing, Zhejiang province. The company mainly produces knitted fabrics such as cashmere, wool and flannel.

Large numbers of factories in India and Bangladesh have been unable to resume production due to the severe pandemic situation. Therefore, orders were being transferred to China, according to a Senru official, who added that since the beginning of October, export orders began to surge even as the price of raw materials went up daily.

"Most of the additional orders came from Europe and the United States as well as Japan and South Korea. From June to September in previous years, we exported on average one container per day. This year, the export volume dropped sharply before September due to COVID-19. But now export orders have recovered to 70 percent of previous-year levels."

From January to October, the output value of Keqiao district's textile industry reached 83.04 billion yuan ($12.6 billion), accounting for 52.5 percent of the district's total industrial output value. The printing and dyeing industry achieved an output value of 32.3 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 2.1 percent, 2.4 percentage points higher than the district's average, according to a recent report from Hangzhou Daily.