by Zhao Xinhua,Zhong Mengxia

At the press conference of the State Council Information Office held on July 23， the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out that the industrial economy has steadily recovered since the second quarter， and the preliminary judgment of economic operation has returned to the normal track.

Three positive changes appear

In the first half of the year， various indicators of Chinas industrial economy dropped first and then rose， and the operating conditions in the second quarter improved month by month. Specifically， there are three positive changes.

Indicators of industrial economic operation improved. In the first two months， the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size dropped by 13.5% year-on-year. By March， the decline narrowed to 1.1%. In April， May and June， the growth rate was 3.9%， 4.4% and 4.8% respectively. At the same time， market sales have picked up， and the production-sales ratio has remained at around 98% in the past few months. Business expectations are improving. The manufacturing purchasing managers index in June was 50.9%， which was above the threshold separating contraction from expansion for four consecutive months.

Major industries and key provinces have improved simultaneously. Among the 41 major industrial categories， more than half of the industries achieved positive growth in the second quarter. Among them， the equip- ment manufacturing industrys added value growth rate in May and June reached 9.5% and 9.7% respectively. From a regional perspective， 18 provinces achieved positive growth in value added in the first half of the year. Most of the 10 major industrial provinces have returned to positive growth.

Emerging industries have grown against the trend. In the first half of the year， the added value of the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 4.5%， and rebounded rapidly after a sharp drop of 14.4% in the first two months. Since March， the monthly growth rate has remained between 8.9% - 10.5%. The added value of industries such as biomedicine， electronics and communication equipment， and medical instruments and equipment increased by 13.8%， 7.2% and 27.2% year-on-year respectively. In June， the output of 3D printing equipment， smart watches， charging piles and other products increased by more than 40%.

The operation of SMEs has picked up

The policy of stabilizing and benefiting enterprises has been strengthened to increase efficiency. Since the beginning of this year， the cumulative tax cuts and fees have exceeded 1 trillion yuan. In terms of financial policies， we implemented inclusive and targeted RRR cuts three times， and comprehensively used rediscount and refinancing measures. In the first five months， the balance of mid- and long-term manufacturing loans increased by 19.6% yearon-year.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the main force to protect productivity and the main channel to stabilize employment. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology， the operation of small and medium-sized enterprises has picked up significantly. In the first half of the year， the decline in the production of small and medium-sized enterprises above designated size narrowed by 10.3 percentage points compared with the first quarter， and the profit decline in the first five months was 21.7 percentage points lower than that in the first quarter. Since entering the second quarter， the growth rate of the main economic indicators of SMEs has turned from negative to positive. Among them， operating income increased by 8.6% and 3% in April and May， and total profits increased by 14.9% and 14.1% respectively.

Apparel exports show signs of recovery from May

According to customs statistics， in the first half of the year， Chinas apparel exports totaled USD 51.08 billion， a year-on-year decrease of 19.4%. In June， however， Chinas apparel exports were USD 12.87 billion， a year-onyear decrease of 10.3% and a month-on-month increase of 40.5%. From February to June， Chinas monthly apparel exports fell by 63.6%， 22%， 27.9%， 24.9% and 10.3% yearon-year， respectively， and the decline has shown a narrowing trend since May， and and we can see the apparel exports show a sign of the recovery.

According to China Customs data， from January to May， Chinas textile and apparel exports amounted to USD 100.62 billion， of which masks drove USD 60.36 billion in textile exports， a significant year-on-year increase of 18.5%. From April to June， the year-on-year growth rate of textile exports remained above 50%， especially in May， which reached a high value of 79.2%. In June， Chinas textile exports were USD 16.16 billion， a year-on-year increase of 56.7% （64.5% year-on-year in RMB）， and the growth rate dropped by 22.5 percentage points from the previous month.

In addition， from the perspective of apparel exports， the proportion of apparel in the industrys total exports in the first half of the year fell to 40.8%. The sluggish end consumer demand in the international market has caused significant pressure on the apparel industry. In June， the situation of apparel exports improved compared with the previous few months. In the same month， Chinas apparel exports were USD 12.87 billion， an increase of nearly USD 4 billion from the previous month. Exports fell by 7.07% yearon-year （down 3.63% year-on-year in RMB）， and the rate of decline narrowed by 17.4 percentage points from the previous month.

Not just in domestic， from the perspective of the international market， in May， major market economies restarted. In May， apparel retail sales in the United States and the European Union surged by 188% and 130.7% monthon-month respectively. The United Kingdom increased by 17.6% month-on-month， and Japans apparel retail sales increased by 41.9% month-on-month. New orders for summer apparel drove a recovery in Chinas apparel exports in June and a month-on-month growth. Since the second quarter， with the surge in the purchase of pandemic prevention materials in Europe and the United States， textiles including masks have become an important support for our industrys exports.

Domestic exhibition successfully held

In 2020， the top priority for many textile companies is to “l(fā)ive”. Under this background， Intertextile Shenzhen Apparel Fabrics became an important platform for fabrics and accessories companies to win new orders and find business partners. Many fabrics and accessories companies actively prepared for exhibitions and conducted targeted research and development as well as adjustments. In addition to the continuous innovation and upgrading of products， it is not difficult to find that during the pandemic period， fabrics and accessories companies have also explored new ways to improve service quality.

On July 15th to 17th， Intertextile Shenzhen Apparel Fabrics was held at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. Industry insiders pointed out that as a“timely rain” with both efficiency and benefit in the “postpandemic era”， Intertextile Shenzhen Apparel Fabrics released a positive signal for the textile industry.