Preview Of Top 10 Countries Exporting Eight Major Categories Of Printing And Dyeing Products In The First Quarter

In the first quarter of 2025, the global economy will continue to recover weakly, geopolitical conflicts will intensify, trade protectionism will prevail and other factors will restrict international trade, and the U.S. tariff policy will become the largest variable affecting global economic growth and international trade. Domestically, the slowdown of residents' income growth and the instability of economic development expectations lead to insufficient domestic demand and weak consumption, which are the outstanding challenges facing the current economic operation. In the face of complex situations, relevant national departments have accelerated the implementation of various macro policies, effectively responded to external challenges, and continuously optimized the enterprise development environment. In the first quarter, the economic operation of China's printing and dyeing industry was resilient and had a good start. The output of printing and dyeing fabrics and the export of major printing and dyeing products maintained a good growth trend, and the production and operation benefits continued to improve. However, it should also be noted that the current imbalance in the profitability of industry enterprises is more prominent, market competition is further intensified, and the foundation for high-quality development of the industry still needs to be consolidated.

　　 The production situation started well, and the output kept growing. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to March 2025, the output of printing and dyeing fabrics of enterprises above designated size in the printing and dyeing industry increased by 5.74% year on year, 1.78 percentage points faster than that of the same period last year and 2.46 percentage points faster than that of the whole year of 2024. The main reasons for the growth of China's printed and dyed fabric output are as follows: First, under the disturbance of international tariff pressure, China's printing and dyeing industry has an obvious effect of "scrambling for export", and the export of printed and dyed products grew rapidly in the first quarter; Second, since the beginning of this year, national policies and measures have been strengthened and expanded, and the stock policy and incremental policy have continued to work effectively to promote China's macro-economy to achieve a good start. In the first quarter, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 5.4% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points higher than in 2024. Under the support of stable and good economic fundamentals, the domestic market of textile and clothing recovered moderately. In the first quarter, the per capita clothing consumption expenditure of the national residents increased by 1.2% year on year, and the retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, knitwear and textiles of units above the designated size increased by 3.4% year on year, 0.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

　　 The export volume grew rapidly, and the export unit price dropped significantly. According to the statistics of China Customs, from January to March 2025, the export volume of China's eight major categories of printing and dyeing products will be 8.478 billion meters, an increase of 11.81% year on year, and the growth rate will be 5.27 percentage points higher than that of the same period last year; The export value was 7.38 billion US dollars, a slight increase of 0.77% year on year, and the growth rate was 4.18 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year; The average export unit price was 0.87 US dollars/meter, down 9.88% year on year, 8.39 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Since this year, the international environment has been turbulent and intertwined, and the tariff policy pursued by the U.S. government has impacted the global trade system. However, with the advantages of industrial scale, industrial supporting facilities, production efficiency, technology and talent, China's printing and dyeing industry has shown strong resilience in foreign trade, and the export volume of eight categories of printing and dyeing products has still achieved double-digit growth on the basis of the higher base of the previous year. It should be noted that under the influence of the uncertainty of the US tariff policy, the industry competition has further intensified, leading to a significant increase in the decline of the average unit price of printing and dyeing products exports.

The export of China's printing and dyeing industry to the main markets is increasing in volume and decreasing in price. In the first quarter, the export volume of China's eight major categories of printing and dyeing products to ASEAN and RCEP trading countries increased by 8.59% and 8.45% respectively, and the average export unit price decreased by 13.65% and 13.14% respectively, both of which were higher than the average export level of the industry. Among the top ten countries in terms of export volume, only the number of exports to Russia declined, while the number of exports to other countries increased to varying degrees. Among them, the number of exports to Nigeria increased by 44.27% year on year, mainly thanks to a series of reform measures continuously promoted by the local government, including making up for income loss Strengthening inter agency cooperation and promoting trade subjects to comply with laws and regulations voluntarily; The growth rate of exports to Brazil, Myanmar and Pakistan exceeded 20%. From the perspective of the average export unit price, the export unit price to the top ten countries dropped by 13.31% on average, of which the export unit price to Vietnam dropped the most significantly by nearly 20%, and the export unit price to India, Pakistan and Russia increased.

Table 1 Top 10 Countries of China's Eight Major Categories of Printing and Dyeing Products Exported in the First Quarter of 2025

　　 The operating efficiency has declined, and the operating efficiency has continued to improve. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to March 2025, the proportion of three fees of printing and dyeing enterprises above designated size will be 7.52%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.16 percentage points, and the enterprise cost control will achieve positive results; The turnover rate of finished products is 12.66 times/year, down 6.12% year on year; The turnover rate of accounts receivable is 7.56 times/year, a year-on-year decrease of 5.46%; The turnover rate of total assets was 0.87 times/year, down 1.69% year on year. In the first quarter, the main operating efficiency indicators of the printing and dyeing industry declined compared with the same period last year. The industry's production and marketing links were not smooth, the recovery period of accounts receivable was prolonged, the efficiency of asset utilization was reduced, and the pressure on enterprises to operate was increased.

In terms of benefits, according to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter, the operating income of printing and dyeing enterprises above designated size increased by 2.76% year on year, and the total profit increased by 6.98% year on year; Cost profit rate was 3.25%, up 0.14 percentage points year on year; The sales profit margin was 3.07%, up 0.12 percentage points year on year. The number of loss making households of 1823 printing and dyeing enterprises above designated size was 802, with a loss of 43.99%, an increase of 0.71 percentage points year on year; The total loss of loss making enterprises was 1.294 billion yuan, down 1.25% year on year. In the first quarter, with the accelerated growth of industrial production, the business income and total profit of the printing and dyeing industry continued the recovery trend since 2024, and the growth rate was 1.78 and 7.28 percentage points higher than that of the textile industry respectively; The profitability of the industry continued to improve, and the total losses of loss making enterprises decreased. However, the current loss of the printing and dyeing industry is still high, 9.91 percentage points higher than that of the textile industry, reflecting the increasing differentiation of profit levels of different enterprises.

On the whole, in the first quarter, the economic operation of China's printing and dyeing industry started steadily, the main production and operation indicators kept growing on the whole, and the foundation for the new and better development of the industry was further consolidated. Looking forward to the second quarter, the production and export of China's printing and dyeing industry are expected to maintain a good growth trend during the buffer period of the US tariff policy; In the second half of the year and beyond, the US tariff policy will bring many uncertainties, which will have a profound impact on regional and global trade, investment and supply chains. The resulting chain effect will further reduce the prospects for global economic growth, which may drag down the demand for textiles and clothing in the international market, and the economic operation of China's printing and dyeing industry may be under further pressure. On the domestic side, the lack of residents' willingness to consume and weak market expectations are major difficulties and challenges facing the current economic development.

Although there is pressure, positive factors supporting the steady development of the industry are also accumulating. With the concerted efforts of the fiscal policy and monetary policy, the domestic demand for textile and clothing consumption space is expected to be activated and released. The in-depth implementation of the "dual" and "two new" policies will accelerate the process of enterprise equipment renewal, technological transformation and digital transformation, and the high-quality development of the industry will continue to be new and better. In the next step, printing and dyeing enterprises should continue to maintain their strategic focus, strengthen their main business based on innovation, continue to promote product development and technological change, and constantly improve market competitiveness and product added value; At the same time, it is also necessary to actively explore diversified international markets, respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with a global layout, and constantly consolidate and enhance the resilience and advantages of the industry's foreign trade.

(Source: China Printing and Dyeing Industry Association)