How Guangdong'S Textile Industry Breaks Through Under The Impact Of US Tariff

The textile industry has always been China's traditional pillar industry. In 2024, China's textile and clothing exports will once again exceed 300 billion dollars, ranking first in the world for 30 consecutive years. As one of the largest garment production bases in China, Guangzhou has gathered more than 30000 related enterprises, forming a complete industrial chain from fabric research and development to garment manufacturing. Under the impact of US tariffs, how can Guangdong textile enterprises resolve the risks? What is the core of Guangdong textile industry to break through the situation?

Guangzhou is the millennium commercial capital of China's textile industry. Every day, millions of pieces of clothing go from here to the world. In the brand R&D and design center of Guangzhou Textile Import and Export Group Co., Ltd., the long-term and stable strategic cooperation relationship with hundreds of high-quality suppliers, manufacturers and third-party service providers around the world is being affected and affected by the impact of US tariffs.

Fang Wujun, who is in charge of the company's business, is now keeping close communication with the upstream and downstream customers of the latest batch of American orders.

　　 Fang Wujun, Deputy General Manager of Guangzhou Textile Import and Export Group Co., Ltd : Our current strategy is to talk with upstream and downstream customers according to the changes in tariff policies to see if they can share. However, the resistance will still be great. If the customer does not cancel the order, it is almost certain that there will be losses.

Guangzhou Textile Import and Export Group Co., Ltd., founded in 1980, whose export market is mainly concentrated in the United States, has temporarily stopped its business with the United States. It is expected that there will be no new orders in the next three months, and the overall business scale with the United States will almost drop by half. On April 3, 34% of the tariff policy was implemented, and the profit loss of orders in hand has already appeared, while the path of export to domestic sales is also facing practical difficulties.

　　 Fang Wujun, Deputy General Manager of Guangzhou Textile Import and Export Group Co., Ltd According to our internal statistics, there are S, M, L and XL codes in China. In Europe and the United States, there is basically no concept of S, and the starting point is the L code. This is a relatively mainstream style of women's wear in the US market, and this is the size of some customer groups.

　　 reporter : Is it difficult to sell these orders and goods in the domestic market?

　　 Fang Wujun, Deputy General Manager of Guangzhou Textile Import and Export Group Co., Ltd : It is difficult. This year's business will also be launched in other European markets, as well as in the South American market, to find markets of the same race to supplement.

Fang Wujun told the reporter that at present, the company's response to and digestion of this batch of American orders is only a short-term difficulty. In the long run, the company has always insisted on improving its core competitiveness, long ago promoted the diversified market layout, and formulated a long-term strategy for the construction of international supply chain.

This year, the company will have more business teams, go to Cambodia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other countries, and actively participate in exhibitions in Britain, France and other European countries to further grasp the global market opportunities under the multilateral cooperation framework such as RCEP and the "Belt and Road" initiative. The more uncertain the external environment is, the more obvious the correctness of the long-term strategy will be.

　　 Fang Wujun, Deputy General Manager of Guangzhou Textile Import and Export Group Co., Ltd Although there are uncertainties in tariffs, they do make us more determined to follow this path. Now the wheel of the times has come to a more critical period. The development of enterprises is like sailing against the current. If they do not advance, they will fall back. Only by doing their own things well, can they overcome the challenges of wind and rain.

　　 Breaking the situation: Deepen the domestic market and develop domestic brands

The Yida Group, located in Foshan, Guangdong Province, was once suppressed by US sanctions and lost orders. So it deepens its efforts in the domestic market and develops domestic brands. What kind of journey does Yida have to break with the current tariff impact?

Cai Wei, who had just attended the Consumer Expo, led his team to analyze the latest market trends and plan the next step of brand promotion as soon as he returned to the company. During his stay in Hainan this time, he was invited by the Ministry of Commerce to share the experience of enterprises' export to domestic sales.

　　 Cai Wei, Vice President of Brand and Retail of Investec Group Tariff has become a number game. You can't calculate it as fast as it can. There must be short-term shocks, and they can't be absent. But in fact, it's hard to shut down.

Although Cai Wei is now easy to say, five years ago, when Yida was officially included in the list of American entities, the company was also in a desperate situation. As early as 1995, Investec Group invested and built factories in Xinjiang to ensure the quality of high-end raw materials and a stable supply chain through the construction of seven local cotton textile enterprises. The United States fabricated the lie of "forced labor" and prohibited Investec products from entering the American market. At that time, Yida either gave up Xinjiang cotton raw materials to solve the survival crisis; Or choose to withdraw from the European and American markets to find new development space. In the extreme pressure and choice between the two in the United States, the company soon hung a huge poster at the factory gate, giving the answer with the posture of "long staple cotton defender".

　　 Lu Hai, General Manager of Guangdong Yida Textile Co., Ltd : It's just 30 years since we entered Xinjiang this year. We have grown together with local communities and employees of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Today, 90% of our cotton is produced in Xinjiang, and Xinjiang cotton means that the foundation of China's cotton textile industry is in that place, so we have no reason to give up our own foundation.

The foundation of Yida is not only the source of long staple cotton. Since the establishment of the group in 1978, the vertical closure of the entire textile and clothing industry chain has been completed by 2000. From cotton seed research and development to garment manufacturing to brand output, Yida can say "no" to the unequal trade rules, and the whole industry chain is completely in its own hands.

　　 Lu Hai, General Manager of Guangdong Yida Textile Co., Ltd : He is as strong as he is strong, and the breeze blows the hills. Why not compromise? Because once the first step of compromise is reached, the whole manufacturing industry in our country, including the textile industry, will have to compromise step by step. When I am strong enough, external pressure and various threats will not defeat me. I can stand and live, and I can live better in the future.

From relying on orders from Europe and the United States, OEM for international brands, to expanding the domestic market and cultivating local brands, the transformation of Yida is not only driven by external pressure, but also driven by internal forces; As "old timers" who had been suppressed by containment for a long time, they took five years to turn around quickly. Practice tells us that Chinese enterprises can not only borrow ships to go to sea, but also sail independently as long as they do not give up their roots.

　　 Cai Wei, Vice President of Brand and Retail of Investec Group : Now we are a foreign trade enterprise, the first reaction is how I can make orders back home, how I can do business with 1.4 billion people, how I can also make orders in East Asia, Japan and South Korea, and Africa through product transformation and channel remodeling. In fact, these are just some things that the whole company has been trying to do in the past five years.

　　 Lu Hai, General Manager of Guangdong Yida Textile Co., Ltd : In addition to being a big producer, we are also a big consumer, so we should be confident. Recently, many macro-control policies have been issued, and some policies have even shown results. If we can do a good job in domestic demand, we will take this opportunity to achieve a transformation, and we believe that this transformation will bring us greater development and future.

　　 What is the core of Guangdong textile industry to break through?

What is the core of Guangdong textile industry to break through the situation? Let's listen to the analysis of economic experts.

　　 Wan Zhe, professor of economics at Beijing Normal University Under the tariff change, as the core hub of the global textile supply chain, China's textile industry, represented by Guangdong, is undergoing in-depth restructuring.

The first, of course, is technological innovation and industrial upgrading, a leap from manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing. In terms of intelligent transformation and speed increase, we can see that Guangdong enterprises are restructuring production processes through digital technology, introducing automation equipment and intelligent technology.

In terms of green technology breakthroughs, facing the potential threat of EU carbon tariffs, Guangdong enterprises are also accelerating the deployment of low-carbon technologies to reduce pollution by reducing traditional pollution and water washing. In terms of new materials and design innovation, the deep integration of traditional technology and modern technology has become a trend. For example, innovative products such as cool and fast drying fabrics, seamless and portable suits meet the high requirements of the international market. At the same time, we can see that the product quality and enterprise benefit are also improved synchronously.

The second aspect is market diversification and supply chain reconstruction. From simple dependence to global layout. From the perspective of emerging market development, Guangdong enterprises are accelerating their shift from the European and American markets to the Belt and Road and RCEP regions.

From the perspective of the regional layout of the supply chain, the elastic layout of One Plus N has become a trend. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the construction of the resilience of the supply chain, strengthen cooperation with upstream and downstream enterprises, stabilize the supply of raw materials, and improve the anti risk ability of the industrial chain.

The other is that the domestic market is always a ballast stone, so Guangdong also promotes the strategy of export to domestic sales, and cooperates with major platforms to deepen the domestic market.

The third aspect is policy coordination and ecological construction, from individual combat to system breakthrough. In terms of industrial chain synergy, Guangzhou, as the hub of the global fast fashion supply chain, also has an industrial network that can complete the whole process of yarn, fabric and clothing within a radius of 50 kilometers. This efficient collaboration is an advantage that is difficult to replicate in other regions. At the same time, the combination of government policies should be said that this support and business environment optimization is also continuing. For example, Guangdong tax authorities provide financial support for enterprises by optimizing the export tax rebate process and implementing tax incentives.

It should be said that the breakthrough path of Guangdong's textile industry is reflected in the comprehensive model of policy empowerment, technology driven, market diversification and industrial chain resilience. The core is to rely on the domestic perfect industrial chain foundation, through innovation and upgrading and global layout, transform external pressure into industrial upgrading power. This model not only provides a reference for the national textile industry, but also confirms the adaptability and development potential of China's manufacturing industry in the complex international environment.

(Source: Xu Ping, Liu Gang, a reporter from CCTV News Station)