Pic: Shutterstock/humphery
For 68 per cent of the survey respondents, ‘weakening demand’ is their major concern for the next six months—up from 60 per cent last January. ‘Inflation’ at 46 per cent, ‘high energy prices’ at 32 per cent, and ‘high raw material prices’ at 30 per cent, were the next biggest concerns reported by participants. ‘Geopolitics’ keeps gaining in importance and is now worrisome for 27 per cent of respondents, ahead of ‘higher interest rates’ with 22 per cent, according to the 19th ITMF Global Textile Industry Survey (GTIS) conducted in March 2023.
‘Weakening demand’ was the main concern in all regions but in North and Central America where it was trumped by ‘inflation’. In all other regions ‘inflation’ is considered the number two concern. For companies in East Asia, ‘high energy prices’ and ‘high raw material prices’ also remain problematic. This is also true in South-East Asia, South Asia, and Africa. The weight of these concerns (i.e., high energy and raw material prices) has strongly dropped in the mind of respondents operating in Europe (including Turkiye) and the Americas. ‘High energy prices’ is still relatively concerning in Europe (including Turkiye) but a clear shift towards ‘geopolitics’ and ‘rising interest rates’ is clearly taking place.
All segments suffer from weaking demand and are concerned that it won’t improve in the next six months. Textile machinery producers are also concerned by ‘inflation’, ‘high raw material costs’, and ‘geopolitics’. Fibre producers are strongly concerned about ‘high energy prices’ while spinners would rather focus on ‘inflation’, ‘rising interest rates’, and ‘geopolitics’. The concerns for weaver/knitters and chemical fibre producers are strongly skewed toward ‘inflation’ and ‘high energy prices’.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)