China's textile and apparel exports in the first half of 2026 delivered a seemingly stable but deeply divergent performance. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on July 14, total exports from January to June reached $145.96 billion, a modest year-on-year increase of 1.4%. However, a closer look reveals starkly different trends: textile exports hit $73 billion, up 3.5%, while apparel exports totaled $72.96 billion, down 0.7%. This 'strong upstream, weak downstream' pattern reflects the real situation of China's textile industry amid global supply chain restructuring.
June Reversal: Autumn-Winter Stocking as a Key Variable
Monthly data often captures industry pulses better than cumulative figures. In June, total textile and apparel exports reached $29.27 billion, surging 7.2% year-on-year and 14.3% month-on-month. This rebound was no coincidence: overseas buyers accelerated pre-stocking for the autumn-winter season, driving concentrated orders for fabrics and garments. Textile exports alone were $13.52 billion, up 12.2% year-on-year; apparel exports were $15.75 billion, up 3.2% year-on-year and a staggering 21% month-on-month.
Data in RMB terms confirms this trend. Cumulative exports in the first half were 1.01222 trillion yuan, down 2.2% year-on-year, but June single-month exports hit 200.25 billion yuan, with both year-on-year and month-on-month growth. While exchange rate fluctuations distorted export values, the signal of real order recovery is clear: overseas demand is not shrinking across the board, but its rhythm and product preferences have shifted.
US Market as Growth Engine, Traditional Markets Lag
From a market structure perspective, the US stood out as the biggest bright spot in the first half. In the first five months, China's textile and apparel export growth to the US expanded by 15 percentage points compared to the same period last year. After the US-China summit stabilized bilateral relations expectations, and as overseas brands completed inventory destocking, buyers increased their reliance on China's supply chain. The US market not only has large volume but also stable demand for mid-to-high-end fabrics and garments, providing solid growth support.
In contrast, traditional mature markets like the EU, Japan, and South Korea showed weak growth. The EU is mired in high energy costs and inflation, dampening consumer willingness to spend on apparel. ASEAN, Japan, and South Korea, constrained by regional tensions and rising energy prices, saw a decline in imports from China. Although the temporary easing of Middle East tensions and falling shipping costs provided short-term benefits to June exports, they cannot compensate for structural weaknesses in major markets.
Upstream Resilience vs. Downstream OEM Pressure
Product structure differences directly reflect the competitive barriers at different stages of the supply chain. In the first five months, yarn exports grew 6.6% year-on-year, fabric exports edged down only 0.5%, and textile products exports rose 2.6%; meanwhile, apparel and clothing accessories exports fell 1.6%. The logic behind this data is clear: overseas brands have generally shifted to low-inventory operations, reducing large long-term garment orders and instead frequently sourcing semi-finished products like yarn and fabrics.
China's textile industry boasts a complete one-stop supporting chain from chemical fiber, spinning, dyeing, and finishing to finished products. This full-chain advantage makes it difficult for other regions to replace China's delivery efficiency and product quality. As a result, upstream intermediate goods have maintained strong order resilience. In contrast, the garment OEM track has relatively low entry barriers, and international capacity diversion and price competition are prominent, making long-term pressure difficult to reverse in the short term. For OEM factories, a growth model relying solely on scale expansion has reached its limit.
External Challenges Remain, Industry Backbone Endures
Looking ahead to the second half, the global economic environment remains complex. The World Bank has warned that the triple pressures of rising energy prices, high inflation, and tightening overseas monetary policies will continue to constrain global consumption growth. Sluggish end-consumer recovery in Europe and the US, persistently high production costs, and capacity competition arising from the fragmentation of global trade patterns will continue to test industry players.
The H1 2026 textile and apparel export performance—'stable volume, divergent structure, and month-end recovery'—provides clear direction for transformation. The era of crude export growth relying on low prices and high volume is over. A complete supply chain, product innovation, and diversified global deployment are the core tools for navigating the cycle. Uncertainty in the external environment remains in the second half, but with China's deep textile industry roots, if companies adjust their product and market layouts in a timely manner, the industry's export base still has solid support for stable operation.