Business

Global Textile Industry Is Optimistic About Business Environment

Companies see mostly a good business situation and anticipate an even more favorable business in six months’ time.
Some differences between regions and segments persist.
Rate of vaccination in a country is impacting business optimism
Upstream segments are faring better than downstream segments
Order intake has significantly improved

Between the middle of August and the middle of September 2021, the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) conducted the tenth ITMF Corona-Survey among companies around the world covering all segments of the textile value chain. Positive outlook The latest results reveal that on average the business situation of the companies is mostly positive. The balance between companies finding themselves in a “good” and a “poor” business situation has reached +10 percentage points (pp) in September 2021 after +5 pp in July and +14pp in May 2021.

Companies’ have a more optimistic business expectation compared to earlier months. Forty-eight percent of companies are expecting more favorable business, and only 13% a less favorable business environment, which results in a positive balance of +35 pp (48% minus 13%). Rate of vaccination impacts optimism Looking at regions it can be observed that those regions with a slow vaccination campaign are lagging those with high vaccination rates when it comes to business situation and expectations. Upstream segments are doing better As for the segments, upstream segments have been faring somewhat better since the recovery is under way than the downstream ones, but the latter seem to be catching up. One important reason for this is the supply chain disruptions the industry is faced with. Further down the value chain the disruptions are felt more pronouncedly due to the cumulative effects in delays of raw and intermediate materials. Improved order intake Compared to May and July, order intake has increased significantly in September on a global level and companies anticipate a further increase in the next six months. A look at the order backlog since May 2021 reveals that companies have a stable order backlog on average of around 2.4 months. Differences between regions and segments remain.