Good news for Chinese dyeing and printing in March
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China for the month of March reveals national dyeing and printing output increased by 11.4% year on year (YOY), representing roughly 5.8 billion metres of cloth.
Contrasted with figures for the first quarter as a whole, March showed a significant improvement versus an otherwise negative growth trend over the first two months. Consequently, domestic dyeing and printing contracted by 0.27% YOY between January and March, when output was just under 12.5 billion metres in total.
Full-year figures for last year, published in February, then suggested a 7.5% decline in output compared to 2021.
Local media said higher industry output in March could be traced to better management of the country's covid-19 prevention strategies on the ground, following the relaxation of its zero-covid policy back in December.
Official customs data put export volumes for dyeing and printing's eight most important categories at 8 billion metres for January-March, a rise of 11.6% on the year previous, reaching around $7.9 billion in value.
YOY export volumes to RCEP trading partners and ASEAN nations grew by 6.6% and 7.2% respectively.
Strikingly, export volumes of printed or dyed cotton-polyester blends were up 272.8% YOY for the quarter, with man-made staple fibre fabrics also up 19.7%.
