Zurich - The global knitting sector is continuing to see a good business situation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic with the latest data generally indicating a strong and broad recovery, according to a new ITMF report.
The ITMF conducted the 12th ITMF Corona-Survey among more than 270 companies around the world in all segments along the textile value chain in the second half of January.
For the fifth time since May 2021, companies were asked the same set of questions about their 1) business situation, 2) business expectation, 3) order intake, 4) order backlog, and 5) capacity utilization rate.
The latest data shows that on average across all regions and all segments, the business situation is still very favourable with +23 percentage points (pp), albeit lower than compared to November 2021 (+28pp).
This high level is remarkable, says the ITMF, given the fast-rising infection number of the Corona-variant Omicron since the 11th ITMF Corona-Survey (see above graph). The fact that a rising number of companies find themselves in a satisfactory business situation (48 per cent) is an indication for a strong and broad recovery.
When it comes to the business expectations in six months, the global textile value chain still remains very optimistic. While the balance between more favourable and less favourable has fallen from +33pp to +25pp, it needs to be considered that these expectations are built on a very favorable business situation (see Graph below). Or to put it differently, only 14 per cent of companies are anticipating a less favourable business by July 2022.
A look at the different regions reveals that the business situation is in positive territory in all regions except for East Asia and Africa where the balance between good and bad business situation is negative. The expectations are very positive except for East Asia.
As for the different segments the downstream segments – knitters, as well as weavers, finishers/printers, and garment producers – are catching up with the upstream segments – fibre producers, spinners, and textile machinery producers.
The order intake has fallen from a high level of +40pp in November 2021 to +30pp in January 2022. This is in line with the slightly weaker business situation. Order intake expectations in January remained practically on the same level as in November (+40pp and +41pp, respectively).
Since May 2021 order the backlog is hovering between 2.4 and 2.9 months with expectations showing that the industry does not indicate a change in the next six months. The capacity utilization rate continues to increase slowly but continuously since May 2021, indicating that the supply chain disruption is still a big – but hopefully a diminishing – concern.
