Loom and texturing machine exports accelerate again

The global textile industry has successively shifted from the UK to the US, Japan, South Korea, China Taiwan, and Chinese mainland. Currently, it is moving toward Southeast Asia, South Asia, North Africa, South America, and other regions.

The essence of industrial relocation is to seek profit maximization within the global framework of production factors. The textile industry consists of numerous links, with significant differences in production factors across each link and varying degrees of dependence on labor, equipment, and energy. During the relocation process, trends are evident in both the transfer from China's eastern coastal areas to its central and western regions and the shift from domestic to overseas markets. Compared with footwear and apparel factories, which are highly labor-dependent and have the fastest relocation pace, textile, dyeing and finishing have moved more slowly due to its reliance on raw materials, energy, environmental protection, and other factors.

In 2025, while the US continues to impose "punitive tariffs" and "reciprocal tariffs" on China, countries have tightened their tariff exemption policies for small packages and frequently introduced anti-dumping measures, slightly accelerating the overseas expansion of textile enterprises and their upstream textured yarn equipment manufacturers. This can be clearly observed from the export volumes of textured yarn equipment and looms from January to April.

According to customs data, China exported 184 textured yarn machines from January to April in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 56%, roughly flat with 2022.

As for the main types of looms, circular knitting machine exports reached 20,288 units from January to April, a year-on-year decrease of 63%; however, warp knitting machine exports (including tricot and raschel warp knitting machines) reached 424 units, up 100% year on year, among which tricot and raschel warp knitting machines increased by 81% and 106% respectively. The total export volume of weaving machine was 39,846 units, a year-on-year increase of 66%. Among them, the year-on-year growth rates of high-width water-jet, air-jet, rapier, and projectile loom exports were 136%, 133%, 13%, and 677% respectively.

Against the backdrop of the irresistible industrial relocation, the overseas expansion of textured yarn equipment in 2025 has completely shifted toward the Egyptian market compared to 2024. For fabric manufacturing investments, they remain scattered across countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Turkey, Egypt, and Brazil, with expectations of becoming more diversified in the future.

In 2025, among the PFY factories' exports, POY will focus more on Egypt, while FDY and DTY will be directed toward major loom export destinations.