Weaving machinery

Two factors underpin the rally

According to the International Textile Machinery Delivery Statistics Report, shipments of shuttle-free looms worldwide grew 32 percent to 148,000 units in 2021. Shipments of air-jet looms, rapier/shuttle looms and water-jet looms grew 56% to nearly 45,776 units, 24% to 26,897 units and 23% to 75,797 units, respectively. The main destination for shuttle-free looms in 2021 was Asia and Oceania, accounting for 95% of global deliveries. 94%, 84%, 98% of the world's air-jet, rapier/shuttle and water-jet looms are shipped to the region. In all three subcategories, the main investor was China, with deliveries of looms accounting for 73% of total deliveries.

Mr.Kurt Lamkowski, principal of Bikaro, which represents the textile industry, said the company, like other machinery manufacturers, saw a very strong market rebound in 2021. The main factors for this are: first, the coronavirus pandemic has been somewhat controlled and investment in the industry has improved; Secondly, some medium-sized enterprises have also been further developed after the pandemic, and these factors have directly contributed to the growth of investment in woven enterprises over the past few years. But there are some problems. For example, over the past year, companies have experienced supply-chain problems, such as production capacity not being able to meet the rapid increase in market demand, resulting in prolonged delivery times.

'If you look at 2022, it's going to be about the same as 2021 in terms of volume,' Mr.Kurt Lamkowski said. 'But it's going to depend on how orders build up this year.'

In addition to woven equipment, knitting equipment also showed an increase. The International Textile Machinery Delivery Statistics Report showed that in 2021, global shipments of Great round machines increased by 29 percent to 39,129 units. The Asia and Oceania region is the leading global investor in this category, accounting for 83 percent of global shipments. China was the top destination, accounting for 64% of all deliveries (or 21,833 units). Turkey and India ranked second and third with 3,500 and 3,171 units, respectively. In 2021, the electronic flat knitting segment grew 109% to about 95,000 units. Asia and Oceania were the main destinations for these machines, accounting for 91 per cent of global shipments. China remained the world's largest investor, accounting for 76% of shipments, with investment up 290%; Shipments to China increased from about 17,000 units in 2020 to 67,600 units in 2021.

Dyeing and finishing machinery

I saw the possibility of expanding the market

The International Textile Machinery Delivery Statistics Report shows that in the continuous fabric dyeing and finishing equipment market, shipments of slack dryers/rollers have increased by 183%. Except for the shrinkage of the dyeing line (cold rolling pile dyeing machine down 16%, hot air drying machine down 85%), the other market segments increased by 33% to 88%. Since 2019, the International Textile Manufacturers Federation has estimated shipments not reported by survey participants to understand the global market size in this category. The report expects global shipments to increase 78% to 2,750 units in 2021. In the intermittent fabric finishing equipment market, shipments of curl/warp dye machines increased by 105% to 1,081 units. In 2021, deliveries of air flow and overflow dyeing machines increased by 24% to 1,232 and 1,647 units, respectively.

Regina, the representative of printing and dyeing machinery, in dyeing and finishing, it is important that manufacturers must focus on customer needs, to focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, reduce water and energy consumption, improve automation and so on. She said that in the past year, the growth of enterprises is still good, and in the first few months of this year, also achieved positive growth. Of course, because there are still a lot of uncertainties, you see some slowing trends. Europe, for example, has a lot of uncertainty about gas and other energy sources. The current market trend is that customers want to get rid of old machines and replace them with more high-tech, automated and environmentally friendly machines.

Riva Michele, representative of the printing machinery company, said that due to geopolitical and economic influences, raw materials, energy and freight rates have been increased, and the logistics situation has been affected to varying degrees. Some European countries can only work two days a week. On the positive side, in the past few months, we have seen the opportunities in the future with ITM ISTANBUL 2022 in ISTANBUL, Turkey, and several textile exhibitions in Germany, and we are trying to change our business model in this context. Overall, the market reaction was positive.

In the recent exhibition, the enterprises got more sales opportunities, which let us see the possibility of expanding the market. Although production is 20% lower, exports are stable. China's first quarter was OK due to the pandemic, but last month's performance was not good. We are looking forward to the performance of the Chinese market in the second half. Nowadays, all countries attach great importance to sustainability and energy saving, and the same is true for printing machinery enterprises. Textile machinery manufacturers are looking for more sustainable and eco-friendly solutions. In addition, digital printing is also one of the future trends.

China textile machinery

More confidence and patience are needed

The overall market of spinning machines in the world gives you confidence to develop. How about the market of spinning machines in China? According to Cong Zheng, secretary-general of the China Textile Machinery Association, China's textile machinery industry achieved operating revenue of more than 90 billion yuan in 2021. The growth trend continued in the first quarter of 2022, and the industry entered negative growth since April.

He introduced that in 2021, China exported $4.8 billion of textile machinery and imported $3.6 billion. Exports continued to grow, while imports turned upward. From January to May 2022, China exported $2 billion of textile machinery, up 4.8% year on year; Imports were US $1.5 billion, down 9.1% year on year. Since 2021, the main import countries of China's textile machinery are Japan (33%), Germany (31%) and Italy (9%); The main exporting countries are India (19%), Vietnam (10%) and Turkey (7%).

Cong introduced that in 2021, spinning machinery has recovered to the pre-epidemic level, and chemical fiber machinery has reached a new high; In the first quarter of 2022, major machinery achieved large year-on-year growth. Weaving machinery and knitting machinery reached a new high in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, the main machinery was basically stable compared with the same period last year, while rapier looms and water-jet looms showed a large decrease.

At present, there are two uncertain factors: the risk of global inflation and the recovery speed of domestic consumer market. Cong said that in the future, the textile industry should firmly develop towards automation, intelligence and green energy saving.

Although the international situation is still complicated and uncertainties in global development persist for a long time, the economic law of relying on quality to win the market will not change. We should devote ourselves to research and innovation. Only in this way can we master the ability to grasp certainty in uncertain factors. The textile industry continues to recover and needs more confidence and patience.