Time to take stock and rankings for textile suppliers. The data speak for themselves: China, the first country hit by the health crisis, was also the leader in relaunching the economy during 2020. A clear signal is given by the performance of Hong Kong which, the regional hub of the supply chain, has increase of 16%.
Bangladesh, which has always been the first challenger of Middle-earth, had to deal with a decrease of 17%, as did Turkey (-7%), India (-25%), Cambodia, (-25%), Morocco (-23%), Indonesia (-19%) and the United States (-19%), which, according to European customs figures, recorded the greatest contractions. How did textile imports go? The “masks” factor has watered down the data but is still an indication of a “revolution” status expressed in + 66% of European imports during the year. Specifically, China and Hong Kong had respective increases of 190% and 516% of fabrics shipped to the EU. Vietnam also took advantage of the need for masks in Europe, with + 74% of imports. Exports of clothing are also suffering from the effects of the pandemic, with an overall decline of 12%. However, in the sector there are cases that counteract the negative flow such as those of exports to Israel (+ 57%), South Korea (+ 22%), Australia (+ 20%), Macao (+ 6%) and China (+4 %). The most significant decreases occurred in orders from the USA, Russia, Turkey, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Taiwan. In terms of textile exports, customs have seen a global contraction of 14%: Asia and the nations of the Mediterranean basin, in particular, have shown decreases of 21% and 17% respectively. The first customers of European fabrics were the United States, China and Turkey – decreases from 12% to 18% – while Morocco and Tunisia contracted by 19% and 15%. The biggest drop was that of India with orders down by 35%.
