According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, from January to July this year, my country's clothing (including clothing accessories, the same below) exported US$91.19 billion, a year-on-year increase of 33.5% and an increase of 10.9% over the same period in 2019. In July, clothing exports were 17.08 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 8.8% year-on-year. The growth rate continued to narrow compared with the first few months of this year, and was an increase of 2.1% over July 2019.

Apparel export growth has slowed down month by month since the second quarter
In the first quarter of this year, my country's garment exports maintained a growth rate of nearly 50%. Since the second quarter, due to the rebound of last year’s base, although China’s exports have remained relatively prosperous due to the recovery of international demand and the return of orders, the growth rate of exports has declined month by month, from a 65% increase in April to July. Of 8.8%, basically return to the export scale in 2019.

From January to July, the export of knitted garments increased by 52.6% year-on-year and 13.9% year-on-year. The growth rate of woven garment exports is obviously relatively low, only 12.7%, and the export scale has been slightly lower than the same period in 2019. It is worth noting that exports of woven garments fell 4.1% in July. If this trend continues, it will inevitably slow down the recovery of overall garment exports.
Since the beginning of this year, the export growth rate of knitted garments has been significantly higher than that of woven garments. There are three main reasons: First, medical protective clothing is classified as chemical fiber woven clothing. The export of protective clothing from January to July decreased by as much as 71.1%, which slowed down the export of woven clothing year-on-year; the second is affected by the epidemic, such as sports and home. The demand for knitted apparel has increased significantly, while the demand for commuter woven apparel has continued to decline; third, due to the new round of Delta epidemic in Vietnam, the return of knitted apparel orders has been prominent.

Export growth to the U.S. declines, exports to Europe and Japan decline for the first time
From January to July, my country's clothing exports to the United States increased by 54.1% year-on-year, and exports to the EU and Japan increased by 21.8% and 11.3% year-on-year. The recovery of the US market was significantly better than that of the EU and Japan. Countries along the “Belt and Road” have generally achieved growth, with a cumulative year-on-year increase of 40.2%. The growth of exports to ASEAN, the Middle East, Africa and Latin American countries is between 33% and 43%.
It is worth noting that under the combined effect of the increased base last year and the drag of the Delta epidemic, in July, the growth rate of my clothing exports to the United States fell to 19.6%, and exports to the European Union and Japan fell for the first time, with a decline of 2.1%. And 5.8%.
Chinese clothing maintains stable share in the international market
From January to June, China accounted for 27.9% of the US imported apparel market, an increase of 2 percentage points year-on-year, but it was still 1.3 percentage points lower than the same period in 2019 before the epidemic. From January to May, China's share of EU imports of clothing was 27.9%, basically the same year-on-year, an increase of 2.5 percentage points from the same period in 2019. From January to June, China's share of Japan's imported clothing was 53.9%, which was the same year-on-year and a decrease of 1.7 percentage points from the same period in 2019.

Exports of major provinces and cities across the country have increased
From January to July, Guangdong's garment exports increased by 58% year-on-year, accounting for 20% of the country's exports, ranking first, with an increase of 15.3% compared to the same period in 2019. Zhejiang and Jiangsu grew by about 20%, and the export scale has not yet recovered to the level of the same period in 2019. The export growth rates of Shandong and Fujian both exceeded 40%, an increase of more than 20% compared with the same period in 2019. In addition, exports from central and western provinces such as Hebei, Xinjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Shanxi have increased significantly, with an increase of more than 100%.