Survey on printing and dyeing mills

As the first half of 2022 draws to a close, the development of the textile industry has ushered in a change, and most mills have also felt the chill winds. Recently, through field visit, many printing and dyeing mills have reflected that the market failed to show goodness despite peak season, and it was also bleak in dull season.

1. Weak domestic demand

As the intermediate link of textile and apparel, printing and dyeing mills mainly have printing and dyeing processes or finishing processes. Unlike spinners, weavers and apparel mills which have a large number of stocks, printing and dyeing mills can more truly reflect the cold and warm market demand. According to the feedback, the end-users demand shrank obviously this year due to the influence of the macro situation, especially the domestic demand was extremely weak, only about 70% of that in previous years.

In addition, the abnormal performance of the domestic demand market can also be seen from the data of the Bureau of Statistics. During Jan-May 2022, the retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 17.1689 trillion Yuan, down 1.5% year on year. Of the total, retail sales of garments, footwear, hats and knitwear scored at 509.3 billion Yuan in Jan-May, down 8.1% year on year. In Jan to May, the retail sales of garments of enterprises above designated size amounted to 362.33 billion Yuan, down 10.1% year on year. All were at low levels for many years.

2. Short date of delivery

Recently, the processing is relatively relaxed and the comprehensive operating rate of the printing and dyeing mills in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is about 60%. The dyeing mills basically start to dye when the orders appear, and the delivery time is short. For example, the orders of conventional products can last for 5 days production. The main reasons for this situation are the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, higher interest rate increased by the Fed and the repeated COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, there are signs of stagflation in the macroeconomic cycle and market worries about the economic recession continue to rise. In this context, the textile and apparel market demand in 2022 continues to be under pressure.

In conclusion, in the context of the macroeconomic cycle, the industry has stagflation and recession, and the overall demand weakens. At present, with the advent of the traditional slack season and the continuous sharp fall in China-origin cotton prices, more yarn mills wait and see and there are fewer new orders from weavers and printing and dyeing mills, resulting in having holidays by turns and two days off.