Textile machinery sales reflect China's confidence, long-term planning

According to the 47th annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) from the Zurich, Switzerland-based International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), in 2024, around 95 per cent of all synthetic fibre filament equipment for the production of both polyester and polyamide was sold to China.

Spinning, knitting and weaving

The picture was not much different in staple spinning, knitting and weaving machinery sales.

The total number of shipped short-staple spindles fell by 3.8 million units in 2024 to a level of 5.92 million. Most of the new shipments went to Asia where deliveries decreased by 36 per cent compared to 2023. The six largest investors in the short-staple segment were China, India, Türkiye, Bangladesh, Egypt and Indonesia.

Some 623,000 open-end rotors were shipped worldwide in 2024, about 390,000 less than recorded in 2023. China, India and Türkiye were the world’s three largest investors in rotors but each ordered less than in 2023 and deliveries fell in all major manufacturing countries with the exception of Vietnam and Bangladesh, where shipments climbed by 214 per cent and 44 per cent respectively compared to 2023.

Global shipments of large circular knitting machines fell by15 per cent to 28,000 units in 2024, with Asia buying 81 per cent of them and China taking 10,786 units. India and Vietnam ranked second and third with 3,899 and 2,559 units respectively.

The number of shipped electronic flat knitting machines increased by 16 per cent to 135,000 machines in 2024, with 96 per cent sold to Asia and 82 per cent to China.

Global shipments of shuttle-less looms increased by +32 per cent to 226,000 units. Deliveries of air-jet looms increased 10 per cent to 58,000 and water jet loom sales were up 56 per cent, with 143,000 sold.

The number of rapier and projectile looms dropped by 7 per cent to 25,000 units, with Asia taking 97 per cent of deliveries.

US-China trade

These statistics do not reflect a lack of confidence from China, despite it being locked into a trade dispute with the US, which began in earnest during the first Trump Administration in 2018. Tariffs were first imposed on Chinese goods back then to address longstanding concerns over trade imbalances, intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers and state subsidies.

The US levied tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese imports, prompting retaliatory tariffs from China on US goods. The conflict escalated into a broader economic confrontation, straining global supply chains and markets. The Biden Administration took a less confrontational tone but largely maintained the Trump-era tariffs and continued to pursue policies aimed at curbing China’s economic and technological rise.

As has been widely reported, the US-China disputes have only intensified in 2025.

With its rigid Five Year Plan system, however, China has so far carried on regardless, as is borne out by the ITMF’s statistics.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (AW)