The textile industry in early 2026 presents a mixed picture: data from January to April shows that industrial value-added growth slowed by nearly 2 percentage points year-on-year, and fixed asset investment growth also narrowed. However, apparel retail sales maintained 5.3% growth. This 'cooling production, warm consumption' pattern signals a shift from scale expansion to efficiency competition.
Growth Shift: Industrial Value-Added and Investment Slow Down
According to publicly available data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to April 2026, the industrial value-added of textile enterprises above designated size grew by 4.1% year-on-year, down about 1.8 percentage points from the same period in 2025. The chemical fiber sector grew by 3.2%, and the apparel sector by 3.8%, both below the industry average. Fixed asset investment in textiles grew by 6.7%, narrowing by 2.3 percentage points from the previous year, but chemical fiber investment still grew by 9.1%, indicating strong upstream expansion.
This divergence reflects a capacity cycle mismatch: chemical fiber companies are investing in high-end differentiated product lines due to raw material price volatility and export demand divergence, while garment manufacturing is cautious due to fragmented orders and Southeast Asian competition. For buyers, this means chemical fiber fabric supply may remain ample, but apparel OEM capacity options are shrinking.
Domestic Resilience: Retail and Profit Divergence
In contrast to the production slowdown, the domestic market shows resilience. From January to April 2026, apparel retail sales of units above designated size grew by 5.3% year-on-year, slightly up 0.4 percentage points from 2025. Online channels contributed significantly, with clothing sales in online physical goods retail growing by 7.1%, higher than overall social retail growth.
However, profits tell a different story: textile enterprises' operating revenue grew by 3.8%, but total profit only increased by 1.2%, with profit margins falling 0.3 percentage points to 4.5%. This means companies are seeing revenue growth without profit growth, with cost pressures eroding margins. For factories, raw material price fluctuations, rising labor costs, and environmental investment are the main factors squeezing profits.
Export Pressure: Volume Down, Price Up, Market Shift
Customs data shows that from January to April 2026, China's textile and apparel exports fell by 2.3% year-on-year, with textile exports down 1.8% and apparel down 3.1%. However, export unit prices rose by 4.2%, showing a 'volume down, price up' pattern.
Regionally, exports to ASEAN grew by 6.5%, while exports to Europe and the US fell by 4.2% and 5.8%, respectively. This reflects the acceleration of global supply chain restructuring: Southeast Asian countries are not only taking over China's low- and mid-end orders but also driving upstream fabric and accessories exports from China through re-exports. For textile foreign trade companies, this means the traditional direct export path to Europe and the US is narrowing, while indirect export via Southeast Asia is emerging.
Industrial Cluster Response: Temperature Difference Between Keqiao and Shengze
Different industrial clusters show significant performance differences. In Keqiao, Shaoxing, grey fabric and chemical fiber fabric companies reported flat order volume in Q1 2026 but a 5% profit decline due to raw material price fluctuations and dyeing cost increases. In Shengze, Jiangsu, water-jet loom utilization remained around 85%, but the share of differentiated products (e.g., recycled fibers, functional fabrics) increased from 30% in 2025 to 38%.
The Nantong home textile cluster faces both internal and external pressures: domestic wedding and season-change demand is stable, but export orders are hit by US tariff policies, with exports to the US falling 12% in January-April. Some companies are shifting to Middle East and African markets, but logistics costs and customer development cycles remain bottlenecks.