The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) Global Textile Industry Survey, formerly known as the ITMF Corona-Survey, showed a deteriorating business situation and expectations in the global textile industry in September.
“Weakening demand, high raw material prices, high energy prices and inflation are the four major concerns of the global textile industry for the next six months,” ITMF said. “The concern about transportation costs have fallen significantly. Concerns about geopolitics, on the other hand, have increased significantly in the past two months.”
The indicators for order intake, order backlog and capacity utilization rate also fell, globally, according to the survey. The business situation was relatively worse in Asia, although improving, while all segments found themselves in negative situations.
A positive sign was that global expectations stopped falling in September, even while staying in negative territory and indicating difficult times ahead. Expectations improved in South Asia, North and Central America, and Africa.
Yarn spinners’ situation plunged to an unprecedented level, the survey revealed. However, spinners also had better prospects for the first quarter, indicating potential relief.
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Order intake fell further, in line with the weaker business situation. Companies in North and Central America, and especially in South America, saw order intake increase, while the Asian regions continued struggling with an unsatisfactory order situation. Order backlog fell on average across all regions.
Those in South America are seeing a rise in order intake. Only dyers/finishers and knitters/weavers experienced a small increase in order backlog. In all other segments, order backlog fell.
While the capacity utilization rate dropped globally in September, it increased in South America’s. Fiber producers registered a steady decrease in capacity utilization rate and home textile producers seem to have reversed their downward trend, ITMF noted.
ITMF is an international forum for the world’s textile industries, dedicated to keeping the worldwide membership constantly informed through surveys, studies and publications, participating in the evolution of the industry’s value chain and through the organization of annual conferences, as well as publishing considered opinions on future trends and international developments. Through ITMF, the textile industries cooperate at the international level with organizations representing other allied sectors.