Rapid growth in 2020, high operation in 2021, and deep adjustment in 2022. What has China's industrial textile industry experienced in 2022? In 2023, the industry will usher in what kind of development situation?

Do fine products to secure orders

"The growth of China's industrial textile industry will slow down in 2022, and the situation of overcapacity in some sectors will continue for a long time." Review the development of the industry in 2022, said Li Guimei, president of China Industrial Textile Industry Association.

In the complex and changeable market environment at home and abroad, the production and sales of industrial textile industry remained relatively stable in 2022, but the downward pressure on profits was great. The total operating revenue and profit of enterprises above designated size in the industrial textile industry decreased by 0.3 percent and 10.4 percent respectively from January to November 2022, according to data released by the China Industrial Textile Industry Association.

According to the research of China Industrial Textile Industry Association, from January to November 2022, the industrial added value of China's industrial textile industry maintained growth, and the prosperity index rose to 57.3, returning to the line above growth and contraction. The production and sales of the industry remained relatively stable. The domestic market demand index and the international market demand index of the industrial textile industry were 45 and 40.2 respectively, which showed a rebound compared with the first half of 2022, showing signs of recovery in the market demand.

In terms of production, the recovery of market demand drives the capacity utilization rate of industrial textile industry to increase continuously. According to the statistics of China Industrial Textile Industry Association, 73.2 percent of the sample enterprises' capacity utilization rate exceeded 70 percent in 2022. The capacity utilization rate of nonwovens is better than that of the first half of the year. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the output of nonwovens of enterprises above designated size increased by 0.1 percent year-on-year in the January-November period of 2022, the first recovery of growth since August 2021. In terms of economic benefits, from January to November 2022, the total operating revenue and profit of enterprises above designated size in the industrial textile industry decreased by 0.3% and 10.4%, respectively, compared with the same period last year, and the profit rate decreased by 0.5 percentage points to 4.6%.

On the whole, in 2022, the polarization of orders in hand of industrial textile enterprises is more serious, and orders in hand of large and medium-sized enterprises are more stable and sufficient, which can support longer production. Most of the orders in hand of small and micro enterprises can only support production within a month or even within half a month. And the reason why large and medium-sized enterprises can have stable order production, from its own competitive products.

Hengtian Jiahua Nonwovens Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Hengtian Jiahua"), which ranks the third among the top ten enterprises in China's nonwovens industry, has plenty of orders in 2022. By refining "one piece of cloth", the company has gradually grown into a leading enterprise in the industry of medical and health nonwovens with a high reputation at home and abroad.

"The influence of Hengtian Jiahua in the industry is to pry open by two fist products." Cao Renguang, executive deputy general manager of Hengtian Jiahua, introduced that the company has researched and developed more than 20 series of nonwovens, among which 7 products, such as Beyond series fluffy soft spinning melt nonwovens, take the leading position in the industry; More than 10 products such as high barrier three antibodies (anti-blood, anti-alcohol, anti-static) have reached the first-class level at home and abroad. In nonwoven products, the company has its own brand "Ancube" mask, "Filelang" cotton towel, as well as medical products and daily necessities trademarks.

"The Ancube mask is made from our unique Beyond line of fluffy soft spun melt nonwoven materials, making it softer, breathable and comfortable." Cao Renguang said that this product is the company's star products, widely loved by users, good word-of-mouth, naturally do not worry about orders.

With PP spunbond nonwovens series products, Junfu Nonwovens Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Junfu Nonwovens") has successfully been selected as the sixth batch of Shandong manufacturing individual champion enterprises, with a revenue of 1.5 billion yuan in 2022. At present, the company's product market share ranks among the best in the country.

"Junfu nonwovens has grown from small to large step by step, relying on the enterprise's good innovation system of 'research and development generation, application generation, reserve generation'." Zhao Minzhong, chairman of Junfu nonwovens, said the company has set up eight production bases at home and abroad and has more than 70 self-developed patents. Innovation-led, the layout of the whole industrial chain will be the key development direction of Junfu nonwovens in 2023.

Featured areas of performance bright

From the perspective of various fields of industrial textiles, non-woven fabric, geotextile and interlining materials have stable development on the whole, among which geotextile and interlining materials have good development and outstanding performance.

From January to November 2022, the total operating revenue and profit of enterprises above designated size of nonwovens decreased by 1.6 percent and 31.8 percent, respectively. The total operating revenue and profit of rope, cable and cable enterprises above designated size decreased by 4.4% and 10.3% respectively. The total operating revenue and profit of enterprises above the scale of textile belt and cord fabric decreased by 5.7% and 3.2% respectively. The total operating revenue and profit of enterprises above the scale of awning and canvas increased by 2.3% and 21.6% respectively. The total operating revenue and profit of other industrial textile enterprises above the scale of filter and geotextile increased by 5.7% and 13.1% respectively year-on-year.

"The decline in nonwovens revenue profit is within the expected range. In the past 10 years, spunlaced industry has entered the high-speed development channel by relying on mature industrial supporting facilities and huge domestic market. In particular, in 2020, the outbreak of COVID-19 triggered an increase in the demand for epidemic prevention materials such as masks, medical protective suits and disinfection wipes, and the production, sales and export of spunlaced nonwovens hit a new high, greatly improving the profitability of the industry." Zhang Yun, president of Spunlaced nonwovens Branch of China Industrial Textile Industry Association, analyzed that since the second half of 2021, the market caused by the demand for epidemic prevention materials has gradually subsided, and the new demand growth point has not yet been generated. The domestic spunlaced nonwovens market is seriously oversupplied, the competition is rapidly intensifying, and the investment heat of spunlaced equipment is gradually cooling. The growth rate of production, income and export slowed down significantly, profitability returned to normal level, and pressure from factors cost, capacity and market demand began to appear. In 2022, spunx industry began to enter a period of deep adjustment.

In 2022, the application of earth and construction textiles in water conservancy, transportation, railway, water transportation, construction and other fields will be greatly developed. The technology and quality level of domestic geotechnical building materials has been improved significantly. Relevant products produced by domestic backbone enterprises are widely used in major engineering construction, gradually becoming an important supporting industry of geotechnical building materials in China's engineering construction, achieving the goal of replacing imports, and achieving good economic and social benefits.

"We have built the world's largest high-speed railway network and expressway network, renovated more than 42 million housing units in rundown areas, and renovated more than 24 million dilapidated rural houses... I was deeply impressed by this series of data in the report of the Party's 20 National Congress. We are proud that the geo-building materials industry has profoundly changed the landscape of urban and rural areas and promoted the process of urban-rural integration." Nie Songlin, general manager of Tiandingfeng Holdings Co., LTD., said that although the industry started late, China's geoconstruction materials enjoyed rapid development as the country promoted large-scale projects such as rural modernization reform.

According to Nie Songlin, although the geomaterials industry is developing rapidly, it also faces problems such as fluctuating raw material prices, weak risk resistance of enterprises, and slow transformation and upgrading of enterprises. Sustainable engineering and green engineering are still needed to be further studied in the geotechnical building materials industry in the future. Sustainable engineering pays more attention to durability, while green engineering focuses more on ecology and environment. Industrial enterprises should increase research and development and production, promote the application of geo-construction materials in the fields of environment, resources, disaster prevention and ecology, provide higher quality and efficient products and design schemes, and commit to the realization of environmentally friendly goals and harmonious coexistence between human and nature.

Interlining Material Branch of China Industrial Textile Industry Association conducted in-depth research on interlining enterprises in 2022. Shen Rong, president of the branch, said that from January to June of 2022, most of the enterprises' main business revenue, profit and output three economic indicators increased significantly, some as high as 30% to 40%; From July to October, the three major indicators fell slightly, especially after September, there were different degrees of decline.

"In the first half of 2022, industry companies generally reported strong orders. Customers trust the dominant brand, and some take the initiative to find goods. From the perspective of industry development, we have a complete set of raw materials, strong manufacturing capacity and high quality products, firmly occupy a dominant position. In the second half of this year, the energy and food crisis will continue to drag down consumption, affecting the demand for consumer goods. Analyze why the data first rose and then fell, Shen said.

Deep adjustment seize the opportunity

With the whole society's new understanding of industrial textiles, the development of the industry has a wider range of application space. Maintaining stability, innovating and seizing opportunities have become the key words for the development of industrial textile industry in 2023. In the future, the industry competition will focus on presenting technological advantages, substitution advantages, quality advantages and leading advantages. The direction of science and technology development is to strive to achieve the breakthrough project of industrial basic ability innovation, the strong base project of core generic technology innovation and the excellent project of high-end application technology innovation.

"In 2023, China's industrial textile industry will enter a period of deep adjustment, seeking progress while maintaining stability. The production and sales of the industry will resume medium-speed growth and profitability will be improved. The focus of industrial fixed asset investment will shift to equipment upgrading, intelligent transformation and green manufacturing. Industry exports are expected to recover." Li Guimei said that in 2023, the industry will adhere to innovation-driven development, continue to promote the construction of industrial scientific and technological innovation system, and accelerate the realization of high level of scientific and technological self-reliance. We will continue to build a state-level innovation platform, deepen cooperation between industry, university, research and application, strengthen research and development of original leading technologies, open up new areas and new tracks for industrial development, and constantly create a competitive new ecology and new business forms. The industry will continue to explore and improve the transformation mechanism of scientific and technological achievements, make independent innovation more widely integrated into the industrial chain innovation chain, serve the needs of the industry, and provide strength support for the high-quality development of industrial textiles.

"New development opportunities have arrived in the spinning-viscose industry." Chen Lidong, president of spunbond nonwoven Fabric Branch of China Industrial Textile Industry Association, said that the "two-carbon" strategy has gradually shown its influence on the industry. Enterprises in the industry are actively carrying out a series of work focusing on key generic technology research, material development and application promotion, green development system construction, non-woven green alliance brand construction and other key tasks. Led the drafting of the industry standard "Calculation Method and Basic Quota of Comprehensive Energy Consumption for Spinning Melt nonwovens Enterprises", and participated in the nonwovens research direction of "Double Carbon Research in Textile Industry" of Chinese Academy of Engineering.

For the special textile industry, Wang Xuguang, chairman of Beijing Bangwei Guanghua Textile Co., Ltd. believes that in the future, with the acceleration of the pace of military modernization, individual soldier protection, special protection, military special clothing will produce a large rigid demand; With the construction of the national rescue force system of "all kinds of disasters and great emergencies", individual protective equipment such as fire protection, chemical protection and water rescue will see great development. With the national and industrial mandatory individual protective clothing standards issued one after another, individual safety protection products will develop rapidly.

"Under the new development pattern of the market, it will radiate new vitality, and the new technology and materials of textile will be widely applied." Wang Xuguang said that in 2023, we should adhere to innovation-driven and enhance industrial competitiveness. He suggested that the industry should establish a special textile material innovation system with deep integration of "production, university, research and application", timely understand and track the international cutting-edge technology trends, hold more technical exchanges, academic seminars and other conferences, establish a positive academic atmosphere, and drive industrial technology upgrading and innovation breakthrough.