The 15th International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) “Corona-Survey” showed that the business situation plunged into negative territory in July.
The business situation was worse in Asia than in the rest of the world. Textile machinery was the only segment still in positive territory. Business expectations have also turned negative for the first time since the start of the survey in early 2020. South-East Asia and South America were relatively more optimistic, as were downstream segments.
ITMF said in releasing survey results this week that order intake was weakening globally, but still in positive territory.
“Here too, expectations have turned negative in all textile segments except for textile machinery producers,” ITMF said. “A difficult period is to be expected ahead. Order intake is deteriorating in all Asian regions and stable in North America, South America and Africa.”
The industry’s order backlog has been improving somewhat in the past few months, from a maximum of 3.1 months in March to 2.9 months in July, ITMF said, and it’s expected to continue falling until March 2023. Capacity utilization rate has been stagnating since the beginning of 2022. This indicator is rising in Africa and North and Central America, while South Asia reported a strong decrease in capacity utilization, as did fiber and home textile producers, and yarn spinners.
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“While high prices for raw materials, energy and logistics are still regarded as major supply side concerns, they have somewhat eased compared to May 2022,” ITMF added. “The prospects of weakening demand caused by surging inflation are worrisome.”
Separately, Gadoon Textile Mills, a part of the Yunus Brothers Group (YBG), one of the largest spinning and textile companies in Pakistan, has joined the ITMF as a corporate member.
Established in 1988, Gadoon Textile Mills manufactures and processes cotton and manmade fibers, while leveraging its state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in Karachi and Gadoon Amazai.
“In a fast evolving, dynamic and integrated world, the ITMF represents a growing ecosystem of industry leaders, experts, and key stakeholders from the global textile industry,” Sohail Tabba, CEO of Gadoon Textile Mills, said. ““This corporate membership unlocks a valuable knowledge-based platform for us in terms of industry analytics, which will help the team at Gadoon Textiles build bridges through numerous networking and collaboration opportunities across the global textile value chain.”
The ITMF is an international forum of the global textile value chain, from fiber to finished products. Its members are from textile and apparel-producing countries representing 90 percent of global production.