Knitting Industry Is Stabilizing And Improving! Interview With Lin Yunfeng, President Of China Knitting Industry Association

According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to November 2023, 6943 enterprises above designated size in China's knitting industry achieved a main business income of 526.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 4.51%; The total profit was 20.8 billion yuan, down 11.4% year on year; The profit margin was 3.96%, 0.1 percentage point higher than that in the first three quarters of 2023; Compared with the previous three quarters, the loss area narrowed by 2.95 percentage points, and the industry revenue showed marginal improvement.

　　 "In 2023, the knitting industry will face a complex and severe external environment, lack of endogenous power, and operate under pressure. The whole industry will adhere to innovation driven, try every possible way to solve the adverse factors, and the industry will start to operate stably and well. In 2023, the export of the knitting industry is expected to exceed 100 billion dollars again, exceeding the export volume in 2019. The offline consumption recovery, and a series of national policies and measures to expand domestic demand will promote consumption The domestic market continued to recover, driven by the remarkable geographical effect. " Lin Yunfeng, president of China Knitting Industry Association, has analyzed the development of China's knitting industry from many aspects and made a prospect for the future development.

Highlights in industry operation

With the continuous innovation of the consumption scene, the consumption habit has changed to leisure and sports, and the proportion of knitted clothing has continued to rise. From January to November 2023, the proportion of knitted clothing production in the total clothing production is 66.35%, an increase of nearly 12 percentage points over 2019.

In terms of domestic sales, the domestic market continued to recover. From January to November 2023, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China will be about 42 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.2% year on year, and the growth rate will continue to increase compared with the first three quarters. Among them, the retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, knitwear and textiles above the designated size increased by 11.5% year on year, and the online retail sales of clothing goods increased by 9.2% year on year.

In terms of export, the market is diversified. From January to November 2023, China's exports of knitted products totaled US $95.319 billion, down 9.82% year on year, and the decline in exports narrowed by 0.74 percentage points compared with the first three quarters of 2023.

Among them, the export of knitted fabrics was 19.882 billion US dollars, down 10.1% year on year; Exports of knitted clothing and accessories reached US $75.436 billion, down 8.6% year on year.

In Lin Yunfeng's view, although the overall export of China's knitting industry products will suffer a setback in 2023, the export volume in 2023 is still expected to exceed 100 billion dollars.

"From January to November 2023, the export volume of China's knitting industry has exceeded the annual level of 2019." Lin Yunfeng said that although the export of China's knitting products to the United States, ASEAN, the European Union and Japan has declined, some emerging markets have performed well.

According to Lin Yunfeng, from January to November 2023, China's exports of knitted products to the five Central Asian countries increased by 48.19% year on year, to Russia by 22.57% year on year, and to Turkey by 20.03% year on year; In addition, exports to Nigeria, Cameroon, Brazil and other countries also achieved good growth.

"On the whole, in recent years, the export structure of China's knitting products has continued to adjust, and the trade market has diversified." Lin Yunfeng said that from the source of goods, from January to November 2023, the export of Xinjiang, Guangxi, Hubei, Sichuan and other central and western regions grew rapidly, with export growth rates of 61.58%, 25.18%, 39.92% and 56.52% respectively.

"With the continuous release of the" Belt and Road "co construction effect, it will create more favorable opportunities for the export of knitted products in central and western China," said Lin Yunfeng.

In Lin Yunfeng's view, in 2023, China's knitting industry will demonstrate resilience under pressure. In the face of a complex and severe external environment, many enterprises will rise to the challenge, strengthen capacity building, and steadily advance the upgrading of the industrial base and the modernization of the industrial chain through scientific and technological innovation, digital intelligence empowerment. The industry will show new characteristics of high-quality development.

The modernization of the industrial chain has been continuously promoted

In addition to the market recovery, what other factors support the stabilization and improvement of China's knitting industry?

"In 2023, the modernization of the knitting industry chain will be steadily promoted, effectively driving and supporting the development of China's knitting industry," said Lin Yunfeng.

"In terms of the modernization of the industrial chain, the digital transformation of China's knitting industry has accelerated. The integration of data and reality has become the most distinctive feature of the era of new industrialization. The application scenarios of AI in the industry have gradually expanded, AIGC (generative artificial intelligence) has begun to be applied to design, research and development, and virtual digital people have gradually emerged in e-commerce shopping guide, customer service and other scenarios, based on AI (Artificial intelligence) machine vision has made significant progress in grey fabric defect detection. CAD (Computer Aided Design) is integrated with knitting technology, extending to the whole link, and virtual looms are commercially available. " Lin Yunfeng said that the whole process intelligent construction of intelligent cutting, intelligent hanging, intelligent logistics and intelligent storage in the knitting industry has been steadily promoted, and digital workshops and 5G intelligent factories have sprung up. Cross border e-commerce, live broadcast e-commerce, and interest e-commerce are rising. Virtual reality and the metauniverse are reshaping business scenarios and consumer experiences, and online and offline integration is accelerating.

"Digital technology is becoming the core engine to promote industry quality change, efficiency change and power change," said Lin Yunfeng.

Today, scientific and technological innovation in China's knitting industry has become a common practice. "The cutting-edge materials and advanced processes are widely used, and the sense of technology, experience, value and functionality of the products continue to improve. The application of regenerated cellulose filaments in the knitting field has made breakthroughs, the application boundary of knitted products continues to expand, the process of knitted outerwear fabrics has made great progress, and knitted products such as shirts, suits, women's coats and sun protection clothes have developed rapidly; in aviation The application of aerospace, medical, geotechnical construction, transportation and other industrial fields is increasingly widespread. Domestic knitting equipment, such as high needle high density circular weft knitting machine, high-speed jacquard warp knitting machine, and computerized flat knitting machine with linear forming, has made significant progress in core technology. " Lin Yunfeng introduced.

In addition, according to Lin Yunfeng, the China Textile Industry Federation issued the Action Plan for Building a Modern Textile Industry System (2022-2035) in August 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan), which clarifies the concept, objectives and tasks of the construction of a modern industrial system, and proposes scientific and technological innovation, fashion upgrading The seven special actions of corporate social responsibility, regional financing development, international supply chain improvement, digital and industrial deep integration, and industrial human resources construction provide action guidelines for the high-quality development of the industry.

"The knitting industry needs to establish a collaborative innovation mechanism between upstream and downstream of the industrial chain to promote scientific and technological innovation in the industry." Lin Yunfeng said that China's knitting industry should integrate resources of domestic digital solution service providers, promote the construction of digital workshops and intelligent factories, and accelerate the digital transformation of the industry; Increase the promotion of bio based fiber, low water and anhydrous printing and dyeing technology, green recovery and recycling technology and corporate social responsibility construction, and guide the green and sustainable development of the industry.

Green fashion leads development

In 2024, the domestic economy is expected to continue to pick up, but the effective domestic demand is insufficient, the external demand shrinks, the low-cost competition of e-commerce live broadcast platforms may intensify, and the trend of low-cost competition in the industry may intensify, and the enterprise benefit restoration still faces challenges.

Lin Yunfeng believes that China's knitting industry has been deeply implementing the concept of green development, and has realized the transformation of development mode through a series of means such as "carbon reduction, pollution reduction, green expansion and growth".

"The advanced industrial base is not only the driving force for industrial development, but also points out the direction for the future of the knitting industry," said Lin Yunfeng.

"Green design, green process, green products and green factories are constantly emerging, and the knitting industry is transforming to a new model of green manufacturing, starting to form new quality productivity," said Lin Yunfeng, "The application proportion of bio based fibers and partially degradable, liquid colored green fibers represented by Lyssell, PLA, etc. in the knitting industry has further increased. A batch of low water and anhydrous green printing and dyeing processes, such as supercritical carbon dioxide fluid dyeing, reactive dye non-aqueous medium dyeing, have been industrialized. More and more enterprises have begun to use green electricity to supply energy and clean production workers The technology of technology, heat energy/water resources/dyeing and chemical material recovery and recycling has continued to develop. "

"The fashion upgrading vitality of China's knitting industry is constantly releasing." Lin Yunfeng said that through "intangible cultural heritage+technology+fashion+trend", the integration of traditional techniques and emerging technologies has made the industry more diversified in fashion. The research and release of fashion trends throughout the yarn, fabric and clothing industry chain is systematic, and the fashion vane plays a significant role.

According to Lin Yunfeng, in recent years, various professional design events represented by the "Puyuan Cup" PH Value China Knitting Designer Competition have continuously injected fresh water into the industry's fashion talent team and promoted the continuous improvement of the industry's creative design level. New life philosophy and lifestyle lead to new culture and new fashion. The development of life concept has brought new consumption culture.

　　 "In recent years, urban culture and industrial fashion have been integrated across borders and complement each other. For example, Zhang Cha, Foshan, Guangdong, has released the cultural brand of" Rising from the Fen River, weaving dreams of Zhang Cha ", integrating Lingnan culture with the knitting industry to build China's knitting fashion innovation demonstration zone; Pu Yuan, Tongxiang, Zhejiang, has integrated the knitting fashion industry into the millennium old town of Jiangnan, creating China's first fashion town, and building the world Grade A knitting fashion industry cluster. The activation of culture, the collision of aesthetics and the rebirth of ideas are becoming the source of vitality for the development of industry fashion. " Lin Yunfeng said.

In Lin Yunfeng's view, with the orderly transfer of the knitting industry from the eastern coastal areas to the central and western regions, regional financial development has achieved remarkable results.

"Taking exports as an example, the export volume of knitting products in the five eastern coastal provinces accounted for 4.87 percentage points of the country's total export volume, down from 2019. The knitting industry in Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Xinjiang, Guangxi, Henan and other places has gradually become large-scale, and some regions have formed industrial clusters." Lin Yunfeng said that at present, The knitting industry in China presents a new situation of coordinated development between the East, the West and the East, and the spatial layout of regional development is further optimized.

"The market share will concentrate on the leading enterprises with international supply chain layout and core competitive advantages, and the transfer of China's knitting industry may speed up," said Lin Yunfeng.

Lin Yunfeng stressed that despite the complex and uncertain external environment, the connectivity and efficiency of China's knitting industry's supply chain, talent and digital dividend still have unparalleled advantages in the reconstruction of the international supply chain, and the fundamentals of the industry's strong resilience, great potential and wide space have not changed. China's knitting industry needs to speed up the restructuring of the industry, and promote the development of the industry towards high-end, intelligent and green direction.

(Source: China Textile News Author: Zhang Guidong)