Page 74 - TEXtalks International April/May 2022

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The International Textile Manufacturers Federation about their 1) business situation, 2) business
(ITMF) is an international forum for the world's textile expectation, 3) order intake, 4) order backlog, and 5) When it comes to the business expectations in six balance between good and bad business situations
industries, dedicated to keeping the worldwide capacity utilization rate. In addition, they were asked months, the global textile value chain remains optimis- is pessimistic. The expectations, on the other hand,
membership constantly informed through surveys, about their main concerns and whether and to what tic but stands on a much weaker foundation (Graph vary enormously. Companies anticipate a more
studies, and publications, participating in the extent they can pass on recent cost increases. On 2). Since September 2021, the balance between favorable business in North, South America, and
evolution of the industry's value chain, and through average, the business situation in March 2022 (as more favorable and less favorable business expecta- Africa, while the balance between more and less
the organization of annual conferences as well as shown in Graph 1) remains positive with +14 tions has fallen from +32pp to +7pp. This indicates favorable is negative in all other regions.
publishing considered opinions on future trends and percentage points (pp). Nevertheless, this is well that the textile value chain has passed the tip of a
international developments. below the +26pp in November 2021 and the +18pp strong business cycle in the 4th quarter of 2021. As for the different segments, the downstream
in January 2022. That a relatively high number of Whether we will see a broader albeit slower econom- segments – weavers/knitters, finishers/printers, and
In the 2nd half of March 2022, the ITMF conducted companies (43%) judge their situation as good ic growth will depend very much on whether disrupt- garment and home textile producers – are generally This reflects the weaker business situation. Likewise, and tobacco (17.4%), coke and petroleum products
the 13th ITMF Corona Survey amongst more than ed global supply chains will be rebalanced and how struggling more than the upstream segments – fiber also order intake expectations deteriorated in March (1.1%), Pharmaceutical (4.6%), chemicals (7.1),
220 companies worldwide in all segments along the shows that demand remains strong despite the the Russian war in Ukraine will develop in the coming producers, spinners, and textile machinery produc- 2022 from +34pp in January to +22pp in March automobiles (26.8%), iron and steel products
textile value chain. For the sixth time since May 2021, many challenges companies face on the supply side months. Looking at the different regions reveals that ers. This is especially true when it comes to passing 2022. Since July 2021 order backlog rose from 2.3 to (21.5%), fertilizer (3.2%), paper and board (8.5) and
companies were asked the same set of questions like delayed deliveries and higher production costs.
the business situation is in positive territory in all on higher costs. The order intake has fallen from 3.1 months. The expectations for order backlog wood products 157.5.
regions except for East Asia and Africa, where the +38pp in November 2021 to +12pp in March 2022. remain unchanged at 2.9 months. Given the persis-
tent supply chain bottlenecks, the capacity utilization Pakistani cotton experts expressed confidence in the
rate stays at around 80%, and the expectations are development of local cotton-related industry and
unchanged. Higher costs for raw materials, energy, yarn export to China as well as other parts of the
and transportation are the main concerns for compa- world, which is increasing every year despite the
nies. Weaker demand is another worry though not Covid-19 pandemic. According to the General
(yet) a dominant one. On average, companies can Administration of Customs of the People's Republic
only pass on 40% of the additional costs across the of China (GACC), data showed that China imported
supply chain. more than $168 million worth of cotton yarn from
Pakistan. Uncombed single cotton yarn containing
For Pakistan, the business situation is also favorable. 85% or above crossed $133 million in the first quarter
The Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) of 2022. Data showed that the export of cotton yarn
production grew by 7% during the first three quarters (commodity code 52051100) from Pakistan to China
of the current fiscal year (2021-22) as compared to crossed $33.30 million, while last year, it was $34.06
the corresponding period of last year, Pakistan million in the same period. The export of uncombed
Bureau of Statistics (PBS). On a year-on-year basis cabled cotton yarn to China crossed $1.50 million. In
(YoY), the industry rose by 26.9 percent during March the first quarter of 2022, more than 51,147.28 tons of
2022 compared to March 2021. The major sectors cotton yarn were imported from Pakistan. As affected
that showed positive growth during July-March by Covid-19, the import of cotton yarn was more in
(2021-22) included textile (1.6%), food, beverages, terms of quantity and value last year.

April/May 2022