The global trade in textiles and clothing has been steadily increasing over the years and has witnessed a CAGR of 4.35 percent during last 10 years i.e., between 2004 and 2013. The major Textiles & Clothing (T&C) importing countries in the world are European Union (EU) and USA; and together they contribute an import demand of over 36 percent. The share of EU imports of T&C in the world is around 18.55 percent while USA commands an import share of 17.53 percent. European Union is one of the largest textiles and clothing markets of the world.

The growth in the demand for textiles and clothing items in these two major destinations and also elsewhere prompted the textile and clothing majors to invest more in the industry and expand the production base so as to maintain/expand the share in the total textiles and clothing demand pie of the world. The global textiles and clothing manufacturing giants like China, United States, EU nations, India etc are increasingly investing in the textile sector. The imports of textile machinery in these nations are given in Table 1. The data indicates the import value and the market shares of these countries in T&C machinery in the world and the number of countries was restricted to the imports share of more than 1 percent in the world.

As evidenced from the table above, China is the major importer of textiles and clothing machinery in the world with more than 18 percent share followed by United States, Turkey, India and Germany etc. The current article focuses on the major segment in which the investments are being taking place and who are the major players both exporter and importer in the world in these machinery segments.

 

Conclusions:


The ever increasing demand for textiles and clothing items by the mankind has provided much needed impetus on the manufacturers of these items to expand their capacity and be competitive in the global market through economy of scale. This has led many of the European nations and some Asian countries to strengthen their research base and develop high tech machinery to serve the textile industry to be competitive. This complementing trend between the textiles and clothing manufacturers and the textile machinery manufacturers is supposed to move ahead and both these segment will complement each other and grow simultaneously in the near future.

 

Major Machinery Segments on the rise


In 2013, Processing Machinery comprising of Machinery for washing, cleaning, wringing, drying, ironing, pressing (including fusing presses), bleaching, dyeing, dressing, finishing, coating or impregnating textile yarns, fabrics or made up textile articles and machines for applying the paste to the base fabric or other support used in the manufacture of floor coverings such as linoleum; machines for reeling, unreeling, folding, cutting or pinking textile fabrics is demanded most across the world i.e., controlling around 26.37 percent of the total textile machinery imports in the world.


Also this segment of machinery has recorded a CAGR of 3.43 percent during the last decade i.e., 2004 2013 periods. Besides processing, sewing machinery is also has a significant share (16.55%) in the total machinery imports in the world. The maximum value addition in the textile value chain occurs in the processing segment and garment/made-ups segment. This encourages the textile and clothing industry to invest more in these segments and hence the imports of these two segments are seen to be more amongst the textile machinery imports. Non woven industry is slowly and steadily picking up as evidenced by the CAGR reported.


The import of this machinery comprising of Machinery for the manufacture or finishing of felt or nonwovens in the piece or in shapes, including machinery for making felt hats; blocks for making hats segment has recorded a CAGR of 6.42 percent during the 2004 2013 periods.

 

The segment wise import of textile machinery in the world is given in Table 2.

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We discuss below the segment wise imports of textile machinery and its top importers in the world.


Manmade Textiles Machinery

This machinery segment comprises of Machines for extruding, drawing, texturing or cutting man-made textile materials.

 

The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 1317.89 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 5.34 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 981.29 million and has registered a CAGR of 1.69 percent during this period. China is the major importer of manmade textile machinery in the world followed by India, Turkey, United States and Brazil. The manmade textile industry is growing rapidly in the countries like Pakistan, Taiwan, Brazil, India and Malaysia as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of manmade textile machinery during 2004 13 periods.


Spinning/Pre-Weaving Machinery

This machinery segment comprises of machines for preparing textile fibres; spinning, doubling or twisting machines and other machinery for producing textile yarns; textile reeling or winding (including weft-winding) machines. The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 3061.20 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 12.39 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 3190.14 million and has registered a CAGR of (-) 0.59 percent during this period. China is the major importer of spinning/pre-weaving machinery in the world followed by India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Turkey. The spinning/pre-weaving industry is growing rapidly in the countries like Korea, India and Bangladesh as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of spinning/pre-weaving textile machinery during 2004 13 periods.

 

Weaving Machinery

This machinery segment comprises of machines for preparing textile fabrics i.e., especially looms. The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 1764.35 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 7.14 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 1920.41 million and has registered a CAGR of (-) 1.68 percent during this period. China is the major importer of weaving machinery in the world followed by India, Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh and Indonesia.


The weaving industry is growing rapidly in Bangladesh as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of weaving textile machinery during 2004 13 periods. Since Bangladesh is one of the major garment manufacturing and exporting nation in the world, its reliability on the major fabric manufacturing nations like China, India, Pakistan, etc will be reduced in the years to come.


Knitting Machinery
This machinery segment comprises of knitting machines, stitch-bonding machines and machines for making gimped yarn, tulle, lace, embroidery, trimmings, braid or net and machines for tufting. The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 2871.19 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 11.63 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 3117.75 million and has registered a CAGR of (-) 0.86 percent during this period.


China is the major importer of knitting machinery in the world followed by India, Bangladesh and Turkey. The knitting industry is growing rapidly in Brazil,

Bangladesh and India as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of weaving textile machinery during 2004 13 periods.


Auxiliary Machinery used in the above segments

This machinery segment comprises of machinery for use with machines of manmade textiles, spinning/pre-weaving, weaving, knitting for example, dobbies, Jacquards, automatic stop motions, shuttle changing mechanisms; parts and accessories suitable for use solely or principally with the machines of these segments for example, spindles and spindle flyers, card clothing, combs, extruding nipples, shuttles, healds and heald-frames, hosiery needles. The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 4370.12 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 17.69 percent.


The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 4154.23 million and has registered a CAGR of 1.01 percent during this period. China is the major importer of auxiliary machinery in the world followed by India, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Italy. The textiles industry is growing rapidly in Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of auxiliary textile machinery during 2004 13 periods.

 

Non Woven Machinery

This machinery segment comprises of the machinery for the manufacture or finishing of felt or nonwovens in the piece or in shapes, including machinery for making felt hats; blocks for making hats. The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 712.81 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 2.89 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 572.40 million and has registered a CAGR of 6.42 percent during this period.


United States is the major importer of auxiliary machinery in the world followed by China, Turkey, Indonesia, Brazil, Russian Federation and India. The non-woven industry is growing rapidly in Peru, Saudi Arabia and Belarus as evidenced by the double digit growth rates that too more than 50 percent in the import of non - woven textile machinery during 2004 13 periods.

 

Processing Machinery

This machinery segment comprises of the machinery for washing, cleaning, wringing, drying, ironing, pressing (including fusing presses), bleaching, dyeing, dressing, finishing, coating or impregnating textile yarns, fabrics or made up textile articles and machines for applying the paste to the base fabric or other support used in the manufacture of floor coverings such as linoleum; machines for reeling, unreeling, folding, cutting or pinking textile fabrics. The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 6511.73 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 26.37 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 5885.61 million and has registered a CAGR of 3.43 percent during this period. United States is the major importer of processing machinery in the world followed by Germany and China. The processing industry is growing rapidly in Bangladesh, Brazil, Russia, United States and India as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of processing machinery during 2004 13 periods.

 

Sewing Machinery

The global imports of this machinery segment in 2013 are worth US$ 4088.19 million and the share of this segment in total textile machinery is around 16.55 percent. The average import of this segment during 2004-13 is estimated at worth US $ 4191.71 million and has registered a CAGR of (-) 0.18 percent during this period. United States is the major importer of processing machinery in the world followed by Singapore, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, Germany, Brazil and Japan. The sewing industry is growing rapidly in Russia, Brazil and Bangladesh as evidenced by the double digit growth rates in the import of processing machinery during 2004 13 periods.