China’s garment and accessory exports during January 2022 to August 2022 grew by 11 per cent.

In the same period the country’s textile exports grew by ten per cent. The EU countries, the US, Japan and Asean countries are still the major destinations for China’s textile and apparel exports. Year-on-year growth of exports to Asean and Bangladesh increased more rapidly to reach 23 per cent and 36 per cent respectively.

The proportion of China’s textile and apparel exports to Europe, the US and Japan has moved down gradually. The proportion to the US, in particular, has declined rapidly since the US-China trade war. Although China’s textile and apparel still hold a dominant position in those countries, especially in Japan, yet parts of the share are being squeezed by Southeast and South Asia countries.

China is in the middle of an outward shift of its low-end textile and apparel industry, and this is expected to continue in the future. However, given the limited capacity and incomplete industrial chains, Southeast and South Asia countries are highly dependent on imports, particularly imports from China. From 2007 till now, the share of China's textile exports in the total textile and apparel exports has risen gradually from 32 per cent to 47 per cent, up 14 percentage points.