Turnover, orders and foreign trade are on the upswing for the German textile and clothing industries. Textile turnover for the first quarter of 2017 was up 0.8 per cent. Clothing turnover was up 0.4 per cent. Both sectors combined showed an increased turnover of 0.6 per cent.

For the entire 2017 the combined turnover is expected to rise by 1.7 per cent –two per cent for textiles and 1.5 per cent for clothing.

In the two sectors there are 0.3 per cent more people employed than in 2016. Effective working hours increased in March 2017 by 2.1 per cent (textiles 2.7 per cent and clothing 0.9 per cent).

Domestic production was up in textiles by 4.3 per cent in the first quarter, and 7.1 per cent for the clothing sector.

The order intake situation has markedly improved in the textile sector and in the clothing sector. At the end of March the figure for textiles was 15 per cent and for clothing 3.8 per cent.

Producer prices were up in both segments over the past months, and as per March 2017, the price levels increased by 0.3 per cent in both sectors.

Textile imports fell in the first quarter by 5.6 per cent whereas clothing imports improved by 0.9 per cent.