Yarn Expo Autumn will feature a wide range of exhibitors at its upcoming show who have developed numerous options that cater for a new wave of demand for sustainable products.

To be held from September 23–25, 2020 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the expo will give visitors a chance to view a diverse range of raw and recycled products to satisfy consumer demand for a more sustainable industry.

International exhibitors will showcase a wide variety of yarns and fibers made from raw, sustainable materials along with recycled and regenerated products. For example, the Cotton Council International (CCI) will share its sustainability efforts by exhibiting at Yarn Expo, offering buyers quality and traceable fibers from the very beginning of the supply chain.

Yarn Expo Autumn 2020 will be held concurrently with Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics – Autumn Edition, PH Value and CHIC, providing a concentrated overview of the latest trends and developments in the textile sector, all in one place. Yarn Expo is organized by Messe Frankfurt (HK) and the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT.

Japanese casual clothing chain Uniqlo is likely to report strong same-store sales for June, taking the edge off a profit plunge for owner Fast Retailing Co due to store closures and weak demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

For June, JP Morgan analyst Dairo Murata forecast a 20 per cent–30 per cent jump in the brand’s domestic same-store sales, helped by demand for the company's Airism face masks, which sold out quickly after going on sale that month. Japan began lifting pandemic lockdown measures in late May.

Such a rise, following declines of 57 per cent in April and 18 per cent in May, would be the strongest sign yet of the business recovering, at least in its home market. Stores in China, a key growth market, have also reopened and people are shopping again.

While strong June sales may also highlight the company's relative strength among global fast-fashion peers, helped by its focus on practical clothes and strength in Asian markets, it may be too early to say the worst is past.

The import of men & boys (MB) denim jeans by the US fell drastically in May ’20 both in quantity and value on yearly basis. Shipment was worth 444,155 dozen in quantity and $37.95 million in value during May this year, falling 75 per cent and 77.80 per cent, respectively. As far as monthly decline is concerned in May ’20 over April ’20, total MB jeans import plunged 25.57 per cent in value and 22.60 per cent in quantities. The US’ import of MB denim jeans in April ’20 was valued at $51 million.

The cumulative decline in January-May ’20 period was 38.78 per cent and the import valued at $437.74 million, a $278 million less than what the country had imported in Jan.-May ’19 period. Of all countries, Mexico noted staggering growth of 104.7 per cent in quantity of MB jeans exports to the US in May ’20 over April ’20, while it escalated by 86.17 per cent in value-terms.

Bangladesh was the second largest exporter of MB jeans to the USA with 80,210 dozen shipment worth $5.82, which is a sharp decline of 80.30 per cent and 81.30 per cent, respectively, on yearly basis. Nicaragua registered a Y-o-Y fall of 61.70 per cent in value and 57.40 per cent in quantity, while China tumbled by 80.40 per cent in values and 80.60 per cent in quantity in May ’20 over May ’19. China’s decline was worse than Nicaragua. The CAFTA-DR benefitted country surpassed China to ship $4.10 million worth of MB jeans to the US in May ’20. The shipment value of China stood at just $2.09 million.

Apparel imports by Japan declined by 13.56 per cent on Y-o-Y basis during the January-May ’20 period. The country imported 1,040.90 billion yen of garments in the period, revealed the Ministry of Finance. Import by weight also declined 11.79 per cent to 2,458 million kg as imports from all major apparel export destinations took a severe hit due to ongoing pandemic situation.

Japan’s apparel imports from Vietnam declined by 0.16 per cent on Y-o-Y basis to 173.13 billion yen while its imports from China declined by 16.45 per cent. Weight-wise Vietnam’s imports declined by 2 per cent to 297.05 million kg while those of China tumbled by 13.86 per cent on yearly basis to 1,635.83 million kg. India’s apparel shipment to Japan in the mentioned period declined by 31.91 per cent and valued at 12.61 billion yen (US $ 117.36 million). Also, the weight of shipment shrunk 29.41 per cent to 22.58 million kg. Shipments from Bangladesh fell by 13.89 per cent to at 48.98 billion yen. The weight of apparel shipments also decreased 15.41 per cent to 109.31 million kg.

At a virtual media briefing, John Laurens, Head-Global Transaction Services, DBS Group stated that Indonesia will benefit from the diversification of global supply chains as multinational companies are looking into ways to reduce reliance on China to manufacture their supplies following the outbreak of COVID-19. Lauren said companies will continue to diversify to low-cost markets like Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, as the pandemic has severely disrupted the global supply chains. It has also made some companies question their heavy reliance on China, while China’s ongoing trade war with the US has also burdened the industries with additional tariffs.

Taking advantage of this situation, Indonesian government has established a special task force to attract businesses leaving China and facilitate their relocation to Indonesia. On June 30, President Jokowi Widodo announced seven foreign companies had confirmed plans to relocate production facilities, mostly from China, to Indonesia. He added that 17 more were looking into opening facilities in the country. The relocation of seven companies is projected to bring $850 million to Indonesia while potentially employing around 30,000 workers, based on the Investment Coordinating Board’s (BKPM) estimates.

Vongsey Vissoth, Permanent Secretary of State, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Cambodia says although garment exports have dropped, the total amount of Cambodia’s exports to the international market in the first five months remained positive. Hence, Cambodia’s trade deficit dropped by 20 per cent, revealed a semi-annual report by the National Bank of Cambodia.

The NBC’s report also added export of Cambodian products increased 3 per cent, stemming from an increase of electronics by 45 per cent, bikes by 18 percent, rice by 29 percent and other products by 30 percent while exports of manufacturing dropped around 6 percent and rubber by 27 percent. Cambodian garment exports dropped over 5 per cent to around $3.78 billion in the first half of the year, according to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.

In the first half of 2020, Cambodia’s garment exports were around $3.784 billion, a fall of 5.4 per cent from more than $4 billion in the same period in 2019. The reason for this decrease was the impact of COVID-19 on the sector which led to a suspension of factories and fewer purchasing orders, said Ken Loo, Secretary-General, Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC).

As of June, 450 factories suspended production in the garment, footwear and travelling bag sector and 83 factories were formally closed compared to 2019, when 75 factories were closed. Additionally, the government did not implement effective measures and policies to support the private sector.

Heng Sour, Spokesperson, Labor Ministry revealed that so far more than 10 factories have asked permission to transform their production chain to produce face masks. Currently there are two factories producing face masks in Cambodia.

With the reopening of major clothing retailers and brands in the EU and US, the inflow of work orders at Bangladesh garment factories has been on the rise, albeit on a limited scale. Most of the local factory owners are running at 80 per cent capacity as buyers are coming back with work orders. Large units have been receiving a handsome volume of work orders but the country's small and medium apparel companies are still suffering. There is a nearly 30 per cent gap in receiving work orders this year compared to last year, says KM Rezaul Hasanat, Chairman and CEO, Viyellatex Group, a leading garment exporter. The volume of confirmed work orders is likely to further reduce from September, said MA Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, another leading garment exporter.

However, suppliers sending garment shipments to Germany faced less order cancellations in March, April and May. There is also a steady inflow of work orders to their factories even amid the Covid-19 pandemic as the German economy has been comparatively less affected by the virus till date.

Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu, Managing Director, Rising Group, said he has an adequate number of work orders for knitwear items but in case of woven items, he could not take orders because he needed to import fabrics, mainly from China. So currently, he can execute 85 per cent of knitwear orders and use 60 per cent of the capacity for woven, Babu said.

KI Hossain, President. Bangladesh Garment Buying House Association, said local buying houses were facing a crisis of work orders as most retailers and brands did not prefer to travel to factories or hold meetings either virtually or any other third destination, except Bangladesh.

Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) has asked the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and all other organizations endorsing the Call to Action to also endorse GMAC's appeal, to postpone Everything But Arms (EBA) withdrawal for Cambodia by one year. The priorities identified in the Call to Action and the ILO’s invitation for the consultation with GMAC include how to support manufacturers to survive the economic dislocation caused by the pandemic and how to protect the income support needs of workers in the sector.

Cambodia already has suffered some 400 factory suspensions and more than 150,000 job losses in the garment sector, with scores more factories and tens of thousands of additional workers at imminent risk. Since the Call to Action is mostly endorsed by European buyers and is being generously supported by the Government of Germany, the single and immediate concern GMAC raised during the consultation was the looming second blow that the apparel, travel goods and footwear sectors in Cambodia face on August 12, with the scheduled withdrawal of €1 billion in trade benefits under the European Union’s EBA trade program.

Hence, GMAC has asked ILO and all other organizations to also endorse GMAC’s appeal, already conveyed in early June to the European Commission and European Parliament, that given the unanticipated impact of COVID-19 on Cambodia the European Commission’s decision, made in early February before the impact of COVID-19, to withdraw certain EBA benefits effective August 12 be reassessed and postponed for one year.

Brooks Brothers has succumbed to its debts and filed for bankruptcy in Delaware. The company has entered the process with $75 million in debtor-in-possession financing obtained from WHP Global, the newly formed brand management firm headed by Yehuda Shmidman is among the parties interested in acquiring the business. Brooks’ largest creditor is Swiss Garments Co, which is owed $5.2 million. The company listed both its assets and liabilities as ranging between $500 million and $1 billion.

The group aims to start this important chapter with a new owner that has appreciation for the Brooks Brothers legacy, a vision for its future, and aligns with our core values and culture. Prior to COVID-19, it was already evaluating various options to position the company for future success in a rapidly transforming retail environment, including a potential sale of the business. Industry headwinds were only intensified by the pandemic. Seeking protection to facilitate an efficient sale of the business is the best next step for the company to achieve its goals, over any other alternative.”

Brooks Brothers will commence a competitive auction where parties can submit qualified bids and the sale process is expected to be completed within the “next few months, pending court approval. Until that time, the company will continue to operate its business and will continue to examine the reopening of stores that have been closed since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With the daily output of masks touches over 20 million, China introduces new standards for KN95, effective from July 1, as a part of the comprehensive efforts to ensure an quality and safe supply chain as the mask goes global.

COVID-19 drove up market demand for special gear like protective wear, face masks and sanitary textiles for hospital purposes, stimulating business for the technical textile industry. The export of non-wovens from January to April amounted to $17.257 billion, up by 79.62 percent, whereas face masks up by 986.36 percent and hospital wear (protective garment) up by 565.6 percent.

China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA) reported in the non-woven sector, the first four months of the year not only saw a 254.62 percent of wow growth in profits, while production rose only by 2.34 percent, and sales income up slightly by 3.66 percent, profit rate reaching 13.22 percent, a lot better than that of the whole textile industry that had been hovering around 4-5 percent in good old days. 

New standards for masks to protect quality

Starting from July 1, the new standard for KN95 face masks, known as GB 2626-2019, will come into force on compulsory basis with more stringent requirements of respiratory resistance, air tightness, practicality, cleaning and sanitization etc., more favorably reflecting the mask performance in use. The new standard will take effect in lieu of the old GB 2626-2006, leaving the grace period for the masks produced prior to July 1 to keep the label on the package indicating the outgoing GB 2626-2006.

The COVID-19 outbreak goaded a galloping investment in the mask production and the melt-blown nonwovens, raising worries not only about the overcapacity problems when the virus ebbs away, but also about the quality concerns while too many masks are produced on short notice and delivered to the market on pressing time. A more rigorous demand out of the industrial standards comes nothing short of a remedy to ensure a quality supply in competitive business environment.  

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the machinery utilization rate, or simply put, the operational rate of mask manufacturing industry outran 110 percent during the peak time of virus spreading in the country, reaching more than 20 million pieces of face masks produced a day, thanks to the complete value chain of nonwovens industry that had been expanding production capacity over the years with the product portfolios for everything for the masks, saying, core filter melt-blown nonwoven and upper and lower covers of spun-bonded nonwovens.

Unprecedented growth in Non-Wovens

The official data shows that the market consumption of nonwovens came up to 107.1 billion Yuan in China in 2018 and stepped up to 114 billion Yuan last year that witnessed the nonwoven production for 5.03 million tons in 2019 to ensure the top seat both in consumption and production in the world. China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA) reported that the output added value of the technical textiles increased by 6.9%, higher than the averaged growth rate in the manufacturing industry of the national economy to take the lead in any other sector of the whole textile industry in China. Moreover, its nonwoven export was registered for 1.051 million tons in volume, up by 9.1 percent year-on-year. 

The technical textiles stand out prominent in a sharp contrast to the other sectors of the whole textile industry, thanks to its particular areas of applications with its unique performance required of the products in non-apparel market consumption. And COVID-19 that emerged and spread rampantly in the first few months of this year drove up market demand for special gear like protective wear, face masks and sanitary textiles for hospital purposes, stimulating the technical textile industry to run at an amazing speed rarely seen before. The first four months of the year not only sees at a wow 254.62 percent growth of profit in non-woven sector, and it is all the more interesting to see that its production rose only by 2.34 percent, and sales income up slightly by 3.66 percent as against its gorgeous profit growth, making its profit rate reach 13.22 percent, a lot better than that of the whole textile industry that had been hovering around 4-5 percent in good old days.

The non-wovens are sought-after as much as in China as in the world market during this special period to combat the pandemic. The export of non-wovens from January to April amounted to $17.257 billion, up by 79.62 percent. If we itemize the product categories of the export, we see the export growth of face masks up by 986.36 percent, hospital wear (protective garment) up by 565.6 percent.

As the coronavirus is dying hard and threatening to come thick here and there with many lockdowns lifted and economy reopened globally, the demand for face masks is going to run viral, making it all the more important to invest in adequate production to catch the trend. And a more technically termed product, melt-blown fabric, continues to stand in the limelight. 

Melt-blown Fabric vs Total Non-woven Production

Non-woven Production Historical Trend (2012-2018) Unit: 10k ton

As one of the non-woven series, melt-blown non-woven fabric is small in the production of the non-woven family, representing only less than 1 percent of the total if we look at 5.93222 million tons of non-woven turnout in 2018 when the actual volume of 53,523 tons of melt-blown fabric was given in spite of its 83,240 tons of the installed capacity.

The melt-blown fabric is regarded as the heart of surgical masks and N95 healthcare masks and the producers of the non-wovens in general are found here and there across the country, but the melt-blown non-woven producers are not as many, they are largely concentrated in these important three provinces as in Jiangsu, accounting for 23.53 percent, in Zhejiang for 13.73 percent, in Henan for 11.76 percent, these three areas represent about half of the production in the particular sector of melt-blown fabric, and Hubei province is home to 2465 non-woven companies, the largest non-woven production in the country, but its melt-blown fabric is not as impressive, taking up merely 4.03 percent.

Graphic I –Share of locations in total production of Melt-blown Nonwovens

(Provinces- Jiangsu 23.53%, Zhejiang 13.73%, Henan 11.76%. Hubei 4.03%, the rest by 46.95%)

In fact, the non-woven production has been growing steadily over the years as the rapid economic growth expedited more consumption of technical textiles overboard and the nonwoven products are applied to many end-uses in growing volume across the sectors. The production of non-wovens is given below in the bar-graphics to illustrate the ramp-up in the years between 2012-2018. 

Apart from the growing trend of total non-woven production, the melt-blown sector, though a little member of the big family, prospects a quick curve-up as its unique property in filtering, obstructing, isolating and absorbing performance will give an impetus to more application to the mask production which is running in full capacity now, with more new lines to be installed on investment spur.

Non-woven Production Historical Trend (2012-2018)      Unit: 10k ton

In 2018, China produced 4.54 billion pieces of face masks, up by 17 percent over 2017 figure for 3.66 billion pieces. If you just think about one layer of melt-blown fabric for an ordinary medical mask and three layers for a high grade N95 mask as it is an essential filtering core for masks, what a sizable production of this particular product is going to be in store in the future with the pandemic not being mitigated by the pre-maturing reopened economic activities that are taking place in some continents in the world?

Contributed by Mr. ZHAO Hong 

He is working for CHINA TEXTILE magazine as Editor-in-Chief in addition to being involved in a plethora of activities for the textile industry. He has worked for the Engineering Institute of Ministry of Textile Industry, and for China National Textile Council and continues to serve the industry in the capacity of Deputy Director of China Textile International Exchange Centre, V. President  of China Knitting Industry Association, V. President of China Textile Magazine and its Editor-in-Chief for the English Version, Deputy Director of News Centre of China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), Deputy Director of International Trade Office, CNTAC, Deputy Director of China Textile Economic Research Centre. He was also elected once ACT Chair of Private Sector Consulting Committee of International Textile and Clothing Bureau (ITCB)