World markets for textile machinery: yarn and fabric manufacture

摘要

2019 was a poor year for the international textile machinery market. There were declines in shipments of spinning machinery, draw texturing machinery, shuttleless weaving machinery and knitting machinery. Furthermore, the outlook for 2020 and 2021 is fairly bleak in view of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world economy and on the textile and clothing supply chain in particular. In spinning, shipments of short staple spindles declined by 20% in 2019 to their lowest level since 2002 while shipments of long staple spindles plunged by 66% to their lowest level since 2009 and their second lowest level on record. Shipments of open-end rotors fell by 21%, although they were still at their fifth highest level since 1988. In draw texturing, shipments of double heater false-twist spindles fell by 5%, although they were still at their second highest level since 2013, while shipments of single heater false-twist spindles rose by 12% to a record high. In the weaving sector, shipments of shuttleless looms edged down by 0.2% although they were still at their third highest level on record. In the circular knitting sector, shipments of single jersey machinery fell by 3% to their lowest level since 2003 whereas shipments of double jersey machinery rose by 4% to their second highest level on record. In the flat knitting sector, shipments of electronic flatbed knitting machinery fell by a sharp 40% to their lowest level since 2015 although they remained well above the levels seen in earlier years. A geographical breakdown shows that the trends in shipments of yarn machinery and fabric machinery to the textile industry in China were largely in line with world shipments, reflecting the fact that a large share of global shipments goes to the Chinese textile industry. Outside China, there were increases in shipments of eight of the nine major types of yarn machinery and fabric machinery to the textile industry in Pakistan, increases in shipments of seven of the nine major types of machinery to the textile industries in Ethiopia and the USA, and increases in shipments of six of the nine major types of machinery to the textile industries in a number of other countries, including Brazil, Egypt and Vietnam. By contrast, there were declines in shipments of most types of machinery to the textile industries in several other countries, including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Turkey and Uzbekistan.