Since 2022, driven by factors such as the recovery of international market demand and rising costs pushing up export prices, China's clothing exports have continued to grow. However, since August, due to the increasing risk of global economic recession, especially in the Eurozone, leading to weakened international market consumer demand, coupled with the recovery of overseas supply chains and multiple factors such as Sino-US trade friction, the growth rate of clothing exports has slowed significantly. In September, clothing exports turned negative, and in October, the decline in exports deepened significantly, further intensifying the downward pressure on clothing exports. According to China Customs data, from January to October, China's cumulative exports of clothing and clothing accessories reached US\$1475.86 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%, with the growth rate slowing by 5.6 percentage points compared to the first half of the year; in October, exports of clothing and clothing accessories reached US\$136.55 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 16.8%, a widening of 12.4 percentage points compared to September.
The driving force of clothing export prices has significantly strengthened, and the decline in cotton clothing exports continues to expand. According to China Customs data, from January to October, the quantity of clothing exports reached 26.41 billion pieces, remaining flat compared to the same period last year, with an average export price of US\$4.62, a year-on-year increase of 11.2%. Among them, the export quantity and export unit price of knitted garments increased by 1.1% and 7.9% respectively year-on-year; the export quantity of woven garments decreased by 2.4% year-on-year, and the export unit price increased by 16.4% year-on-year. From the perspective of export categories, commuter, cold-proof, and sportswear with higher added value maintained rapid growth, with year-on-year growth of 66.9%, 30.6%, and 32.4% for suits, casual suits, and shirts respectively, 25.3% for overcoats and down jackets, and 19.9% for sportswear. The decline in cotton clothing exports continued to expand, with a year-on-year decrease of 26.2% in October, an expansion of 10.6 percentage points compared to the previous month; among them, China's exports of cotton clothing to the United States decreased by 48.7% year-on-year, an expansion of 6.9 percentage points compared to the previous month, and China's exports of cotton clothing to the European Union decreased by 34.2% year-on-year, an expansion of 10 percentage points compared to the previous month.
In terms of major export markets, from January to October, China's export growth to the United States and the European Union slowed significantly, while exports to ASEAN maintained rapid growth. According to China Customs data, from January to October, China's clothing exports to the United States amounted to US\$33.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%, a slowdown of 14.1 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, and a year-on-year decrease of 35.6% in October, a month-on-month decrease of 16.5%; China's clothing exports to the European Union amounted to US\$28.82 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%, a slowdown of 10.3 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, and the decline in October continued to deepen, with a year-on-year decrease of 33% and a month-on-month decrease of 14.4%. During the same period, China's clothing exports to ASEAN amounted to US\$13.18 billion, a year-on-year increase of 29.3%, an acceleration of 1.8 percentage points compared to the first half of the year; China's clothing exports to Japan increased by 1.8% year-on-year, an increase of 7.0 percentage points compared to the first half of the year. From the perspective of export regions, China's clothing exports to countries and regions along the Belt and Road, Latin America, and Oceania continued to maintain rapid growth, with increases of 15.6%, 24%, and 16.6% respectively, contributing 5.4 percentage points to China's clothing export growth. In addition, China's clothing exports to the UK decreased by 7.8% year-on-year, and exports to Russia and Canada decreased by 20.7% and 14.4% year-on-year respectively.
The decline in clothing exports from Guangdong and Fujian deepened, while Xinjiang's clothing exports showed counter-cyclical growth. From January to October, the top five provinces in China's clothing exports—Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Fujian—together achieved clothing exports of US\$104.54 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%, accounting for 70.8% of China's total clothing exports, a decrease of 2.0 percentage points compared to the same period in 2021. Among them, Zhejiang's clothing exports amounted to US\$29.83 billion, a year-on-year increase of 17.3%, Jiangsu and Shandong's clothing exports increased by 3.3% and 8.1% respectively year-on-year; Guangdong's clothing exports decreased by 6.9% year-on-year, a widening of 3.3 percentage points compared to the first half of the year, and Fujian's clothing exports decreased by 7.2% year-on-year, a decline of 14.4 percentage points compared to the first half of the year. Among the central and western provinces, Xinjiang's clothing exports maintained rapid growth, with an increase of 82.4%, surpassing Shanghai to become the sixth largest clothing exporting province in China. Jiangxi, Hunan, Liaoning, and Sichuan's clothing exports increased by 33.2%, 50.2%, 17.2%, and 33% respectively year-on-year, while Anhui, Hebei, Hubei, and Guangxi's clothing exports decreased by 4.8%, 43.5%, 9.8%, and 2.8% respectively year-on-year. It is noteworthy that in October, major clothing exporting provinces experienced significant declines, while Xinjiang and Guangxi's clothing exports showed strong counter-cyclical growth. Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Fujian's clothing exports decreased by 17.9%, 12.7%, 29.2%, 13.8%, and 36.7% respectively year-on-year, and Shanghai decreased by 32.1% year-on-year; Xinjiang and Guangxi's clothing exports increased by 66.1% and 103.7% respectively, and Hunan and Liaoning increased by 17.8% and 5.1% respectively year-on-year.
