Coronavirus has brought the Chinese economy and polyester and textile industries in the country under pressure. Parallel to the 2003 SARS crisis, polyester demand could decrease as business activities stopped.
There are common fears among the business operators of the polyester chain. Central China, where Hubei is the center of the network, is practically at a standstill.
Hubei is a major manufacturing centre for the textile industry, with a large number of apparel, print and dyeing firms. Long-term paralysis of transport will mean that no fibres or fabrics products produced in the main production sites in the coastal regions of China will be sent inland. The shipment to other parts of China and shipments of garments and other finished textile goods could also come to a halt.
While China encourages the reopening of factories, coronavirus consequences have already become inevitable for producers abroad. South-East Asia has faced the major consequences, where raw material industry which rely on China is struggling as its suppliers are drying up. Buyers from the Western markets are heading to China for the next season to deal with garment exporters. As a result of the spread of coronavirus, most of the trips have been cancelled and the buyers have started to make contacts with other countries.
It is the time now to analyze markets to find gaps that can be filled by Pakistan. China’s exports to the US in textile sector were almost USD 46 billion in 2018. The top 3 major export items are Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, Knitted or Crocheted, Articles of Apparel and Clothing Accessories, not knitted or crocheted, and other made up textiles which have exported values of USD 17.6 billion, USD 14.5 billion and USD 8.8 billion. Interestingly, Pakistan’s top 3 major textile exports item to the US are also these three products that have been mentioned earlier and their export values are USD 1 billion, USD 0.6 billion and USD 1.38 billion, respectively. So the data shows a large market size is going to be available for grabs in coming days and we should avail this chance to enhance our exports and capture market.
