According to the statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in the first quarter of this year, China's textile and bag exports reached $67.23 billion, a decrease of 6.7% compared to the same period last year (a slight increase of 0.7% in RMB terms). The decline narrowed compared to the fourth quarter of last year, showing a monthly improvement trend. Among them, textile exports amounted to $32.07 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 12.1% (a decrease of 5.1% in RMB terms), while garment exports amounted to $35.16 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 1.3% (an increase of 6.7% in RMB terms).

Figure 1. Monthly statistics of China's textile and garment exports from 2022 to 2023 (in billions of US dollars)

In March, China's textile and bag exports reached $26.39 billion, exceeding expectations with a year-on-year growth rate of 20% (a growth of 28.9% in RMB terms) and a shift from negative to positive growth on a monthly basis. Among them, textile exports amounted to $12.91 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.5% (a growth of 17.6% in RMB terms), while garment exports amounted to $13.49 billion, a year-on-year increase of 32.3% (a growth of 42.1% in RMB terms), surpassing the national export growth rate by 17.5 percentage points.

Relevant departments stated that the steady and positive performance of China's foreign trade in March was a result of the vigorous and proactive efforts of foreign trade enterprises in actively securing orders and expanding markets. In particular, private enterprises with a larger quantity and greater flexibility played a positive role in stabilizing the scale and improving the structure of foreign trade. According to customs information, since the middle and late February of this year, the year-on-year growth rate of imports and exports on a fortnightly basis has remained positive, leading to a shift from a slight decline in overall growth rate in the first two months to growth, with a 10.5% increase in China's export container volume in March compared to the same period last year.

The shift from negative to positive growth in China's textile and garment exports in March fully demonstrates the resilience of the textile industry, which is dominated by private enterprises, as well as the international competitive advantages of the entire industry chain. Currently, the global economic environment is still not optimistic, with many countries facing the risk of economic recession. Factors such as weak external demand, insufficient orders, and geopolitical risks continue to pose real challenges to the foreign trade of the industry for a period of time. At the same time, the difficulties faced this year are also to some extent a global issue. For example, Vietnam, as one of the countries with rapid growth in textile exports in recent years, experienced a year-on-year decrease of 18.6% in textile and garment exports in the first quarter of this year, with a decrease of 12.9% in March alone, and the outlook for subsequent foreign trade orders is not optimistic. In summary, our industry needs to fully leverage its comparative advantages and maintain a stable share in the international market, which requires policy support and joint efforts from all parties.