Technical textile is the growth engine of global
textile market, gaining wider applications in many industries. The Chinese
technical textile market has been growing rapidly in recent years, but the
overall development still falls behind the global trend, presenting huge
potential to be unlocked.
A market with 9.1% growth
According to the latest statistics released
by the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA), the main business operating
revenue of the large scale technical textile
enterprises in China amounted to RMB308.197 billion in
2016, an increase of 5.8% when compared with the
previous year. Meanwhile, the total profit amounted to RMB19.091 billion,
representing an increase of 8.3% when
compared with the previous year.
The growth of the industrial added
value of the technical textile sector was 9.1%, while the growth of
the entire textile industry was just 4.9%. The investment in fixed assets in the technical
sector grew 4.51% year-on-year in
2016.
Both import and export report decline
According to the statistics released by the
General Administration of Customs of the People’s
Republic of China, the exports of technical textiles from
China in 2016 amounted to US$23.61 billion, representinga year-on-year decrease
of 7.42%. For imports of the same category, the amount decreased 6.3% to US$6.17 billion from the previous year.

The main items of the technical
textile sector for export are medical and healthcare
textiles, industrial coated/laminated textiles, nonwoven fabrics, canvas, threads (cords), synthetic leather and
base cloth, and packaging textiles. Among these items, the
export value of nonwoven fabrics grew 1.5% in 2016 while the export value of all other
items fell at different levels. For export volume, most items could maintain
certain level of growth.
For application sectors, technical textiles for transportation grew rapidly by value and volume, recording growth of 11.8%
and 15.1% respectively.
The USA, Japan, Vietnam, Korea and India
are the biggest export markets of technicaltextiles from China,
contributing 38% of the total export value. Among the top 10
countries and regions for export value, only Philippines reported
a growth of 2.06%. Export to the USA, for example, the
export value fell by 5.04%, which was the first time inlast several years. The exports to Japan and
Vietnam also fell by 2.02% and 5.08% in value respectively.
The continuous decline in export prices is a critical factor for the decline in
export of the Chinese technical textile sector. The prices of main items droppedin 2016 with the prices of threads (cords), synthetic leather and
base cloth, and packaging textile dropped more than 10%.
The price of nonwoven fabrics also dropped almost
10%.
Clustering
of the technical textile sector
According to China National Textile and
Apparel Council (CNTAC), 13 nonwovens and technical textile clusters
have been participating in the pilot project of industrial clustering launched since2002. These clusters cover medical and healthcare textiles, civil engineering textiles, construction
textiles, textiles for filtering and separation,
synthetic leather and base cloth, threads (cords) and mesh, ribbon textiles, and elastic canvas.Most of them are located in Zhejiang, Jiangsu,
Shandong, Hubei, Fujian, and Hebei provinces.
An outlook from a global point of view
In China, the technical textilesaccounted for a small proportion of the three main categories of textile processing. In 2015, the ratio of
fiber processing volume of apparel, home textiles and technical textiles
was 46.6:28.1:25.3, while the
ratio in 2010 was 51:29:20. It can be seen that the proportion of technical textile grew about 5% in 5 years, showing that the
Chinese technical textile market has been gaining importance.
However,
the overall development of Chinese technical
textile market still falls behind the global trend. According to the forecast of the United
Nations, the total volume of textile fiber processing in 2050 will reach 253 million tons in which 67.4% will be technical textiles. Thus, there is huge potential to be untapped for the Chinese technical
market.
In addition,Chinese technical textile enterprises also fall behind their overseas counterparts in
production scale,
sales, product range, comparative advantages and business development strategies at the moment.
Development
Conference sheds light on development
In May 2016, the important
conference “The China Nonwovens &
Industrial Textiles Development Conference” was held in Guangzhou, China. During the
conference, famous academicians from Chinese Academy of
Engineering presented their findings and insights on the
development of the Chinese technical textile market.
Academician Yao Mu remarked that
the Chinese technical textile market has been growing in recent years, in particularwith civil engineering textiles, reinforced composite
fiber materials and healthcare textiles. These products feature improved strength, highresistance to high temperature, high biocompatibility,
and are environmentally friendly. He
emphasized that the demand for these high-end textileswill further go up in the future.
In the wake of increased
sustainability, innovative
technical textiles with high-performance and functional fiber
materials will be good substitutes for conventional materials, he explained. Therefore, Chinese technical
textile sector should focus on developing “green” and functional products which
will gain wider applications.

Meanwhile, Academician Jiang Shicheng pinpointed the huge potential of technical textiles
in the automotive industry.
Lightweighting technology
is an integral part of the “Made in China 2025” Initiative. For this technology, carbon fiber is the material of choice in
overall performance.
According to him, the
global production volume of carbon fiber was 128,000 tons in 2015. In
the same period, the production capacity of carbon
fiber in China was 15,000 tons, and the actual production volume was just4000 tons. The main reason was Chinadid not have large-tow carbon fiber production
technology and corresponding industry chain.
In the automotive industry, lightweighting is a
mega trend. For this reason, the establishment of high-performance fiber industry chain for automotive
industry in China will be critical, representing
many opportunities to the technical textile sector.
Additional effort
required for achieving the goal
The “Guidelines for the Development of Technical Textiles” in the “13th
Five-Year Plan” is a list of opinions put
together by the Chinese government, industry experts,renownedscholars and entrepreneurs for the development of the Chinese technical textile sector.
They conducted analysis for the problems
inherent to the industry, and proposed clear objectives for the development
and innovation of different kinds of technical textiles. They stated the expectation
of the creation of necessary market mechanism as well.
In addition, forward looking vision was emphasized as the reference
for the sectorand as the guide for local governments in mapping out economic development policies.
The objectives proposed are very clear:
- In the period of
2016-2020, the
industrial added value of the large-scale
technical textile enterprises should achieve an average annual growth rate of
9%;
- The total volume of
fiber processing in the sector should achieve an average
annual growth rate of 8%;
- The labor productivity
should achieve an average annual growth rate of at least 8%;
- By the year 2020,
the volume of fiber processing for technical textiles
should account for 33% of the textile industry;
- The top 100 key
enterprises should invest 2.5% of their sales revenue in
research and development, which is 0.6% higher than in
2015;
- The technologies of
textiles for environmental protection, civil engineering and
construction, andbio-based functions have to meet the global standard;
- Efforts should be madeto
develop 5 to 8 industrial clusters valued at RMB10
billion or more;
- To form 3 to 5 big nonwovens and technical textile
enterprises with international
influence
Industrial clustering is
one of the effective ways to boost the development of technical textile sector
in China, according to some industry experts. In this way, the local government can
supervise enterprises located in a specific geographicregion in more efficient manner under applicable policies.
For achieving the aforementioned objectives, the
Guidelines listed five missions for the technical
textile sector as well as the government bodies of different levels. They are:
- Drive innovation intensively, improve
systems for innovation;
- Strengthen supply chain structure;
- Build higher quality standards, form
renowned brands;
- Transform sector structure, increase
competitiveness of enterprises;
- Promote sustainability, develop circular
economy.
Moreover, some industry
experts advise Chinese technical textile enterprises to learn from top-notch globalenterprises.
This will be a crucial mission for them to excel themselves.
Technical textile sector worldwide on a growth curve
According to the Euratex (The European Apparel and
Textile Confederation), the production of
nonwovens rose by 3% and that of technical and industrial textiles by 6% in the
period from January to May 2016 compared to the same period the year before.
The markets in the leading non-European
textile nations are also good. For example, technical textiles account for about 37% of overall US textile production at present. India expects
production to grow from the current level of approx. US$18 billion to 26
billion by 2017.
The turnover of the German textile
and fashion industry rose by around 2% in 2015 compared to the previous year, according
to the
German Textile and Fashion Association. Particularly successful
were textiles and technical textiles with a growth rate in excess of 3%.
As said by the Confederation of
the German Textile and Fashion Industry (textile+mode), the textile and apparel
industry with more than 130,000 employees, 1,400 companies and an annual
turnover of around 32 billion euros is the second largest consumer goods industry
in Germany. The growth of German textile and apparel industry is primarily
driven by technical textiles.
The Germany’s Commerzbank forecasts the global market for conventional
textiles will expand and be worth approx. US$160 billion by 2018. In the case
of nonwovens, the global market is expected to grow
in terms of sales to over US$42 billion in 2017.
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