By Zhao Zihan

The biennial event 2016 China Liaoyuan International Hosiery Expo， co-sponsored by CCOIC， China Knitting Industry Association， and The Peoples Government of Jilin Province， organized by The Peoples Government of Liaoyuan City， Department of Commerce of Jilin Province， CCPIT Jilin Provincial Committee was successfully held on July 5th - 6th， 2016.

Liaoyuan， a hosiery industry cluster represented by cotton socks， also a famous city of hosiery in China， has enjoyed significant progresses in terms of the entrepreneurship of college graduates， the improved products mix， and the cooperation between overseas and domestic brands. Yang Jichao， Vice President of China National Textile and Apparel Council （CNTAC） President of China Knitting Industry Association， stated in his opening speech that “I believe that based on the exhibition， the hosiery industry in Liaoyuan will be more professional and more international. CNTAC will continue to focus on the development of the hosiery industry in Liaoyuan， providing support for product promotion， structural transformation， intelligent park construction， etc.”

During the two-day event， five different exhibition zones were established， including a zone for socks， underwear， raw materials， and hosiery equipment， one for hosiery history and future development， one for ebusiness functions， one for the supporting products of the industrial chain， and one for production of the whole industrial chain. In addition， there were also five major activities during the expo， i.e. forum， new product show， brand meeting， and cooperation signing.

Highlights

Combination between traditional show and business chain. Different from the previous， the Expo this year not only exhibited the socks as well as related equipment and raw materials， but also displayed a complete industrial chain that the Northeast Sock Textile Industrial Park has established， including plants， equipment， raw materials， logistics， information， personnel， finance， marketing and other supporting services.

■ Combination between development trend and Internet plus.

■ Combination between creative design and new product shows.

■ Combination between specialization and diversification. Not only overseas and domestic hosiery enterprises， hosiery machinery enterprises as well as well-known brands， suppliers， and buyers were invited， the famous business associations， financial investment institutions， and the experts from online businesses were also invited to the show. Meanwhile， there was also a booth for diversified cooperation between colleges and enterprises， welcoming more than 60 colleges. In addition， a special booth was for personnel recruitment， providing a talent pool for “Taobao 5，000”.

“Internet + Hosiery Service Platform”Forum

The “Internet + Hosiery Service Platform”Forum， sponsored by China Knitting Industry Association and organized by The Peoples Government of Liaoyuan City， is an important part of the Hosiery Expo， not only giving an interpretation to the governments macroeconomic policies and making an analysis of the international economic situation and development trend of domestic and overseas hosiery industry， but also inviting experts and scholars to explore the development of the hosiery industrial chain based on the “Internet +” and discussing such issues as market opportunities， ecommerce， branded channels， R&D and innovation around the development of socks.

Foreign trade of socks is still in face of adversity

During the three-hour event， Yang Jichao， made a presentation entitled “The Overall Status Quo of China Knitting Industry”， pointing out that during the first five months of this year， most indicators of the textile industry enjoyed a relatively stable growth while some even saw a better one than the national industrial level. According to the National Bureau of Statistics， the figures of May indicated that the knitting industry witnessed a main business income of 270.6 billion yuan， up by 6.18% from 254.9 billion yuan over the same period last year， and higher than the overall growth of the textile industry. （Table 1）

During the first five months of 2016， China saw total exports of 4.87 billion pairs of socks， a total amount of 1.91 billion yuan. Figure 1 shows the comparison of hosiery export volume and value from 2009 to 2016， indicating that the hosiery export is presenting a trend of increase in volume and decrease in value instead of the decrease in both in the previous year， mainly because of the dropping raw material prices as well as demand constraints.

Yang Jichao said that， in the future the knit-ted products will still enjoy a potential growth in the textile industry and are moving towards a new height of combination between scientific & technological innovation and fashion creativity on the basis of national policies such as the supply-front reform.

Li Jian， President of Institute of International Trade， Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation， MOFCOM， and Ye Dan from Policy Research Office of the General Administration of Customs of PRC， conducted indepth analyses respectively on the current foreign trade situation and supply-front reform as well as the imports and exports of textile products. Li Jian stated that in general， the global economy is experiencing a deep adjustment， no significant improvement in oversupply， while the domestic economy currently is “L” shaped， and GDP growth is likely to fall slightly further. Therefore， foreign trade is still in face of adversity. During the 13th Five-Year Program period， the foreign trade is required to adhere to the five development concepts of innovation， coordination， green， opening， and sharing， focusing on cultivating new competitive advantages of foreign trade in terms of technology， brand， quality， service， and human resources.

Ye Dan pointed out that in recent years， the domestic textile industry is facing challenges in cost， environmental protection and other factors， industrial transformation out of China to the Southeast Asia， Europe and other developed countries support to the development of textile industry in emerging markets， and Chinas textile industry entering a period of adjustment. （Figure 2）

In terms of exports， the traditional developed market share is shrinking， while the emerging markets become a highlight of exports （Table 2）. In terms of imports， quota management and policy support have blocked cotton imports， and cotton yarn import as a substitution has become an important way to circumvent quota control procurement of raw materials （Figure 3）.

In addition， Ye Dan also made an analysis of Chinas textile industry trade environment in the aspects of layout changes， the mismatch between supply and demand， rising costs， trade barriers， and TPP extrusion， pointing out that the market demand had entered a personalized and differentiated demand-driven stage， with a substantial increase in demand for high-end products； however， most textile products in China are still in the lowend， though large in supply capacity， there is lack in added value and effective supply. She suggested that Chinas textile industry should encourage the multinational companies to build transnational industrial chains， increase effective supply based on the supply-front efforts， intensify the design， application， and promotion of “Chinese elements”， and make innovation of transaction modes by use of new trading businesses.

E-commerce is to become the pillar industry of reginal economy

During the forum， Professor Chen Jin from University of International Business and Economics gave an elaboration on the concept of ecommerce development and policy interpretation， characteristics and status of regional e-commerce development in Liaoyuan， and how to do e-business in the underdeveloped areas. He suggested that local e-commerce should build brands respectively from government enterprises， for example， the hosiery industry in Liaoyuan can go further to build well-known brands nationwide from being famous as an industry in China.

Li Mingtao from China International Electronic Commerce Center made a detailed explanation on development policy， industry background as well as current situation and development trend of cross-border online businesses， stating that that cross-border e-business is a kind of new trade to promote transformation and upgrading of Chinas foreign trade， and it will enjoy full liberalization on the basis of summarizing the pilot regions.

Zhang Yongjie， Vice President of DHgate. com， made a keynote speech on the nature of cross-border e-business as well as the bottlenecks of the platform and other related contents through typical cases， and introduced four service systems of cross-border e-business trading platform： platform service， overseas marketing， supply chain management and integrity of the system.