China’s exports of spandex fell by ten per cent during the first eight months of 2022. Overseas buyers mainly purchased spandex on a need-to-basis. Turkey is the biggest buyer of Chinese spandex followed by South Korea and Pakistan. Exports to these three nations amounted to 38 per cent of total exports. Exports to Columbia, Taiwan of China and Bangladesh reduced.

Overall Chinese imports of spandex declined by 31 per cent during the first eight months of 2022. Hyosung Quzhou suspended production amid the pandemic. Players focused on consuming domestic spandex when domestic sales were soft in June to August, supply exceeded demand and the exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar depreciated. Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea and Japan are the major countries from which China imports spandex. These four nations amount to 90 per cent of imports. However, during January 2022 to August 2022, spandex imports from Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea and Japan fell by 25 per cent, 18 per cent, 36 per cent and 18 per cent respectively.

The global spandex market is growing at eight per cent a year. It is also commonly known as elastane. Spandex is used in textile manufacturing applications such as leggings, gloves, cycling jerseys and competitive swimwear.