Consumption of Three Main Products Continues Upward Climb

One year after China launched the stimulus package and regained economic growth momentum, the textile industry has overcome serious difficulties and has made new developments as policies come to the fore. From January to October, China's production of three main textile products grew at a faster pace this year than last year. Cotton quilt output has increased by approximately 10.36% to 57.67 million pieces; silk quilt 16.70 million pieces, up 15.65%; nonwoven fabric 1.04 million tons, up 26.37%.

In the third quarter, apparel sales of China??s top 100 department stores climbed 20.3 percent from the second quarter, China General Chamber of Commerce said. As consumers picked up shopping this month, apparel sales this month will continue improve.

 

Moreover, good times are ahead for China??s home textile and nonwovens industries. In Oct., completed construction area accounted for 377 million sq m, advanced by 22.8% compared with last year. Completed resident housing construction area was 312 million sq m, a 25.1% year-on-year increase. Another favorable opportunity: boosted by tax cuts and rural subsidies, auto sales rose 78.6% to 1.31 million units in Oct. in China, which was surpassing the United States this year as the world's largest auto market. It is understood that every year the automobile's non-woven fabric industry production is almost 70 million square meters. It is necessary to seize the current favorable opportunity of industrial adjustment, vigorously promoting the development of the home textile and nonwovens industries.

The financial crisis won't have too much impact on Chinese consuming market. The upper class may have been affected by the economic downturn, but most people from middle class are not badly hit. Chinese consumers are still willing to spend. China's consumer confidence index (CCI) has risen to 88.5 percent in October from 86 percent in March.

China will continue the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy next year, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee agreed on Nov. 27. More efforts would be made to improve the quality and efficiency of economic growth, to promote the transformation of the economic development pattern and structural adjustments, according to a statement released after the meeting. The Political Bureau vowed to enhance the focus and flexibility of economic policy in the following year according to new situations. It would also further implement and enrich the economic stimulus package to make the economy grow in a more stable, balanced and sustainable way.

During next year's economic work, the government would improve policies to spur consumption and ensure investment grow at a reasonable pace, it said. The government aims to boost domestic demand, especially the sustainable increase in consumption next year. It also vows to improve policies to stabilize external demand, actively increase imports and encourage companies to invest overseas, said the statement.