Textiles are big business and regardless of global economic conditions, the textiles industry always remains constant. People will always need clothes so there will always be a need for fabric and material. A few years ago, the export of textiles globally reached $773 billion dollars which is a massive amount of money! Here we look at some of the biggest textile exporters in the world:
Germany
In the top five of textile exporting European nations, Germany’s textile industry is second only to its food and drink industry. As you would expect, the industry benefits from high-tech processes which makes it a world-leader in the manufacturing of textiles that require a precision, high-tech process to make. They also import a huge amount of textiles, being second only to the United States in terms of textile import levels.
India
The textile industry is India’s largest employer, so it’s not surprise that their market share of exports has increased over recent years. Such is the scale of production here that numerous multinational corporations have invested in more than 6000 textile factories throughout India’s different regions. The main materials involved in export include cotton, silk and wool.
Italy
Another European nation with a high export for textiles, possibly as a result of its traditional links with the fashion industry. Such is their strong tradition of fashion, there probably isn’t a range of clothing in the world that doesn’t have links to Italian fashion houses, textile makers or designers. For inspiring textiles for your next home project, see the wide range of Dressmaking fabric at www.quality-fabrics.co.uk
Bangladesh
For a poorer country like Bangladesh, the textile industry is a crucial part of the economy and a major employer. Large contracts with countries like the United States and members of the European Union are hugely beneficial to export industry of textiles in poorer nations like Bangladesh, Vietnam and Malaysia, for example. Many of the textile factories are not owned by international firms but local business owners, making textiles one of Bangladesh’s only areas of economic growth.
China
China represents the colossus of the textile industry and the statistics get quite staggering. China’s textile industry is over six times larger than India and equates to 35% of the entire global textile export market. Even with the economic downturn of 2008, the industry managed to stay strong and this could be down to a few different reasons. The Chinese government does not intervene or interfere with the textile industry like it does with some other industries. Longevity also played a big part in the industry’s ability to weather the economic storm. China has a very long history of textile manufacture.
Textile Importers
The biggest importers of textiles are the European Union with an import market valued at $69 billion US dollars, followed by the United States with a value of $29 billion. China comes next, closely followed by Vietnam. Japan and Bangladesh have very similar import markets worth $8 and $7 billion respectively, while Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia share $6 billion import markets each.