China's textile and apparel exports in 2025 delivered a surprising yet substantial performance. According to customs statistics, total exports reached $293.767 billion, down 2.4% year-on-year. While the decline has not turned positive, it significantly outperformed most forecasts at the beginning of the year, highlighting the resilience of China's textile supply chain amid shrinking global demand.
Structural Divergence Behind the Data
The most notable feature of the full-year data is the clear divergence between categories. Exports of textile yarn, fabrics, and related products totaled $142.585 billion, up 0.5% year-on-year, while exports of apparel and clothing accessories reached $151.182 billion, down 5.0%. This means upstream intermediate goods are replacing finished garments as the main export driver.
On the import side, a similar contraction is evident. Imports of textile yarn, fabrics, and related products fell 7.9% to $9.974 billion in 2025, a much steeper decline than exports. The reduction reflects both the acceleration of import substitution by domestic chemical fiber and cotton spinning capacity, and a sluggish recovery in demand for some high-end fabrics.
Industry Logic Behind Export Resilience
The positive growth in yarn and fabric exports is primarily driven by the continuous expansion of textile processing chains in Southeast Asia and South Asia. These regions have taken over a large portion of garment manufacturing relocated from China, but still rely heavily on Chinese supply for fabrics and yarns. Chinese textile companies, with their complete chemical fiber and cotton spinning chains and scale advantages, have secured irreplaceable pricing power in intermediate goods trade.
The 5% decline in apparel exports is directly linked to global consumption downgrading and order diversion. Retail inventory digestion in Europe and the U.S. remains slow, and brand owners are adopting a conservative ordering pace. Meanwhile, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and other countries continue to increase their share of garment exports, directly competing with China's mid-to-low-end apparel.
The 7.9% drop in imports reflects both improved domestic fabric self-sufficiency and persistent gaps in high-end textile raw materials and functional fabrics. In areas such as industrial textiles and specialty yarns, where imports from Japan and Germany are still crucial, domestic substitution has not fully materialized, causing import volumes to shrink with downstream demand fluctuations.
Transmission Effects Along the Supply Chain
Stable growth in yarn and fabric exports directly benefits textile clusters like Keqiao and Shengze. Weaving and dyeing mills in these regions maintain high operating rates, with some differentiated products even seeing price increases. However, for garment processing hubs like Nantong and Ningbo, the pressure from order reductions continues to be felt.
Changes in imports indirectly benefit chemical fiber and cotton spinning companies. Accelerated import substitution means domestic suppliers have opportunities to fill the gap, especially in commodity items like polyester and viscose, where domestic capacity utilization is expected to rise. However, in high-end areas such as carbon fiber and aramid, technical breakthroughs are still needed.