Covid-19 pandemic situation and policy of major textile and apparel markets

New Covid-19 strains pop up every day as the virus continues to mutate. Since April 2021, there have been more new COVID-19 cases and the epidemic in US, Vietnam and Bangladesh has been also not optimistic recently. The main production and consumption regions of global textile and apparel were affected to varying degrees. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Turkey, Pakistan, India and Indonesia are the main production bases. The consumption regions like Europe, America and Japan saw changeable supply and demand as the number of COVID-19 infections were growing.

The outbreak of new round of the pandemic made the market pay more attention to the vaccine effect and vaccination rate, the transmission of Delta Virus is stronger, and the requirements for vaccination rate are higher. In terms of vaccination per 100 people, the vaccination rate in Britain, China, Germany and the United States was relatively high, with the vaccination rate of more than 50%, while that in Turkey and Japan was relatively low, more than 40%. The vaccination rates in Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh were low. In addition, it was less than 10% in India and Indonesia. The vaccination rate in high-income areas in Europe and America was high, which has generally reached over 50%, while the vaccination rate in low-income areas was relatively low. Therefore, it will take a long time to achieve global immunization. High income areas such as EU and US are the main demand areas for textile and apparel, and low-income areas are the main supply areas. Both the demand and supply will affect the global textile and apparel pattern.

Since April, the outbreak of the pandemic in India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Bangladesh and the repeated outbreak in the United States and other regions have once again highlighted the problem of shipping. The delay of shipping schedule and the rise of freight are common. The rise of freight can be seen from the change trend of shipping price.

In conclusion, the pandemic still sounded grim, and the global vaccination rate was gradually improving. However, the variation of COVID-19 made the effect of the vaccine constantly worrying. Moreover, the vaccination rate in the middle and low income areas is low and the prevention and control capability is limited. Therefore, main production bases of textile and apparel will face supply problem. The severe epidemic situation in India made delivery difficult in earlier stage. The phenomenon of delay in shipping schedule was also happening in Vietnam, and the lockdown measures in Bangladesh were also continuous. In the main demand market, the vaccination rate in the United States has exceeded 50%, but new cases are rising, so the recovery of consumption may be compromised. Slow port customs clearance efficiency, and higher container price and the sea freight caused by the pandemic will continue to have a great impact on the import and export trade.