Wang Tiankai: How To Develop Textile And Garment Industry

Interview with CPPCC member and vice chairman of China Textile Industry Association Wang Tiankai

For China's textile and garment industry, "

Actively and steadily push forward the adjustment of industrial structure

The author: in 2010, China's GDP exceeded Japan's second place in the world. This year's "government work report" put forward that in the next five years, China's economic growth target is expected to grow by 7% annually.

What do you think of the current economic situation in China and the expectation of "12th Five-Year" economic development? How will the textile and garment industry develop during the "12th Five-Year" period?

Wang Tiankai: during the "12th Five-Year" period

"12th Five-Year" is the key period for China to build a well-off society in an all-round way. There will be new changes and new features at home and abroad.

In the fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, the Party pointed out that China's development is still in an important period of strategic opportunity, which is able to make great progress. It faces both a rare historical opportunity and a lot of predictable and unforeseen risks and challenges.

This is the basic and scientific judgement made by the Central Committee on the historical position of China's economic and social development.

Therefore, we must enhance the sense of opportunity and sense of hardship, scientifically grasp the law of economic and social development, take Scientific Outlook on Development as the guidance, pform the development mode as the main line, actively adapt to environmental changes, effectively resolve various contradictions, and promote the steady and healthy development of China's economy and textile and garment industry.

There is no doubt that the situation and the world will continue to undergo profound changes at present and in the coming period.

From the domestic point of view, although there are still some problems such as disharmony and imbalance in the development of our country, 30 years of reform and opening up have accumulated strong material conditions for our country, and the comprehensive national strength has been significantly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for our economic restructuring. China is in a new historical period of social and economic development, and the domestic political situation is stable.

From an international point of view, although the international financial crisis has slowed down the world economic growth, all countries in the world have revitalized the real economy, promoted scientific and technological innovation, and developed new energy as the focal point of adjustment, which has formed a positive interaction with China's development. Today, the multipolarization of the world pattern and the development of economic globalization are developing in a deeper direction. Peace, development and cooperation are still the mainstream of the times. The willingness of all countries to carry out economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation with China is further enhanced, creating a good international environment for China's economic development.

On the whole, the good momentum of two kinds of resources and two markets at home and abroad has provided a rare historical opportunity for the development of China's textile and garment industry, and constantly boosted the confidence of the industry, because the market is ultimately determined by the development of the industry.

Therefore, we have no negative and pessimistic reasons.

"12th Five-Year" is a critical period for China to move from a big textile and garment country to a strong textile and garment industry. As long as there is a market, we are confident that we will meet all kinds of challenges, resolve the foreseeable and unforeseen risks in the development of the industry, and promote the sound and rapid development of the industry.

The author: the textile and garment industry is a market competitive industry. How should the government guide the adjustment of the structure?

Wang Tiankai: in recent years, China's textile and garment industry has taken "expanding domestic demand and adjusting structure" as the general requirement, focusing on independent innovation, technological pformation and optimized layout, and has made significant achievements in promoting industrial restructuring and industrial upgrading.

Facts have proved that speeding up structural adjustment is the only way for enterprises to deal with risks and pressures. At the same time, we must insist that the structural adjustment is based on the market, the main body is the enterprise, and the support is innovation.

We should also realize that textile and clothing are highly market-oriented industries.

On the one hand, the industry should work hard to promote structural adjustment under the role of market mechanism; on the other hand, the relevant national macro-control policies and industrial policies are also essential.

In the process of restructuring, enterprises, industries and governments should make joint efforts. In particular, the government should further make overall plans and make comprehensive control through economic, administrative and legal means, so as to create a favorable environment for restructuring the textile and garment industry.

Market opportunities and challenges exist both inside and outside the market

The author: you talked about the domestic demand market just now.

What is the current domestic demand market in the textile and garment industry? What potential can the industry have in terms of domestic demand during the "12th Five-Year" period?

Wang Tiankai: after the impact of the international financial crisis, the weakness of China's economic development model which has relied heavily on investment and exports has become increasingly apparent.

To maintain steady and rapid economic development, we must further expand domestic demand, give full play to the role of consumption in promoting economic development, enhance endogenous driving force of economic development, and form a new situation in which consumption, investment and exports jointly stimulate the growth of the economy.

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In recent years, China's domestic demand market has maintained steady growth, and its supporting role in the industry is still outstanding.

With the continuous improvement of the living standard of residents in China, the level of urbanization is further enhanced, the gap between clothing consumption and consumption of urban and rural residents has been speeded up.

In the future, the domestic demand market of textile and garment industry will expand greatly.

First of all, industrial textiles will become a new economic growth point in the future industry development.

At present, more than 20 related industries in China have demand for industrial textiles, and strengthen the integration with the terminal demand department, and strive to solve the key problems in technology, standards and quality. Industrial textiles will definitely develop greatly.

Secondly, for clothing and home textiles, with the gradual improvement of people's living standard, they pay more attention to the comfort of wearing, and the requirements for green and environmental protection of clothing are more stringent.

Therefore, the future functional products will get more room for development.

The author: the domestic demand market of textile and garment industry has great potential.

So, what do you think about the export of the industry?

Wang Tiankai: with the gradual recovery of the international economy and the gradual improvement of market confidence, the export of industry is recovering.

However, at present, the main developed countries such as Europe and the United States are slow to recover, and the consumption will weaken, which leads to the lack of demand in the international market, and the recovery speed of relevant industries in the international market will slow down.

At present, there are still many uncertainties in our country, which has increased the risk of industry operation and increased the uncertainty in the export market of the industry.

It is worth noting that the rise of some emerging countries such as Vietnam and India on the international market has also challenged China's exports.

Looking at the external environment of the development of China's textile and garment industry, the challenges are pregnant with opportunities.

The development of our industry must take account of the situation, balance the two domestic and international markets, take the initiative to adapt to the changes in market demand, continue to give play to the comparative advantages of the textile and garment industry and the favorable position in the world economy.

Establishing modern industrial system of textile and clothing {page_break}

The author: in the "government work report" mentioned "to pform and upgrade the manufacturing industry", textile and clothing such traditional industries should do?

Wang Tiankai: China is still a big textile and garment country in the world.

With the pformation of the economic development mode, the textile and garment industry is no longer a traditional manufacturing industry in a purely sense. It is an industry integrating information and industrialization. The realization of ERP has greatly improved the efficiency of production management. The industry is accelerating the establishment of a modern industrial system, from simple production to production and service pformation.

At present, domestic labor costs continue to increase, raw material prices rise substantially, enterprises should further improve labor productivity, speed up technological pformation and technological innovation; the industry should innovate in marketing mode, and rely on scientific and technological progress and innovation to lay the foundation for its pition from labor-intensive industries to technology intensive industries. There is no doubt that the pformation and upgrading of traditional industries will be a very important aspect of China's economic structural adjustment no matter its difficulty or importance.

The author: do you mention the price rise of raw materials? Is the rising of raw materials in the current and future period a major problem facing the industry?

Wang Tiankai: the price of raw materials is also one of my priorities for the two sessions this year.

Since last September, domestic cotton prices have risen sharply, and even fluctuated sharply, which has adverse effects on domestic textile and garment enterprises.

In this regard, enterprises should be fully prepared for the thought, and the era of cheap cotton in China is gone forever.

For China, the supply of cotton is a rigid gap, which will lead to the high operation of cotton prices.

Under such circumstances, we should avoid the ups and downs of cotton prices, give full play to the regulatory role of imported cotton and national cotton reserves, and protect the vital interests of related enterprises and cotton growers.

The price of raw materials, including cotton prices, has once again sounded the alarm for the industry: the way to occupy the market by cost is no longer feasible.

The industry should increase the development of alternative raw materials, optimize product mix, and increase the added value of products with the help of design, brand and channel strength, so as to provide a reliable guarantee for the effective occupation of the market.