World markets for textile machinery: part 2 -- fabric manufacture, September-October 2008

41 pages, published in Issue 137, September-October 2008   Report price: Euro 600.00; US$ 785.00

2007 was a mixed year for the international fabric machinery market. Although deliveries of flat knitting machinery to the world?s mills increased significantly, shipments of weaving machinery and circular knitting machinery fell. Once again, Chinese purchases dictated global shipments.

In the weaving sector, there was a modest increase in deliveries of shuttleless looms but this was more than offset by a sharp drop in shuttle loom deliveries. In the case of shuttleless looms, the more advanced weaving technology, deliveries were up by 2.4%. Shuttle loom shipments, however, plunged by as much as 45%. The 2.4% increase in shipments of shuttleless looms was due entirely to a 9.7% rise in acquisitions by China?s textile industry. There were also increases in the numbers procured by mills in Bangladesh and Indonesia but, in general, levels of acquisitions were down. Indeed, purchases by the industries in Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Syria, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam all fell at double digit rates. In the case of shuttle looms, Chinese mills acquired 43% fewer machines, and accounted for almost all of the drop in global deliveries. Nonetheless, they still represented over 95% of total shipments?at 3,661 machines.

The global market for circular knitting machinery was also sluggish in 2007. Having said that, drops stayed within single digits. Shipments of single jersey circular knitting machinery fell by 5.1% while double jersey machinery deliveries declined by 6.8%. In the case of single jersey machinery, the fall was due entirely to an 8.7% drop in purchases by Chinese mills. In the case of double jersey machinery, 91% of the global decline was accounted for by a 7.9% drop in acquisitions by the industry in China.

In the flat knitting sector, there were increases in global shipments of hand knitting and semi-automatic knitting machines, as well as electronic flatbed machines. In the case of hand and semi-automatic flat knitting machinery, unlike other sectors, shipments increased in spite of a 28% drop in purchases by the industry in China and the increase was due largely to a 42% rise in purchases by Bangladeshi mills. However, there were also substantial increases in purchases by several other industries, including those in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Madagascar, Russia, South Korea and Thailand. In the electronic flatbed knitting machinery market, the industry in China remained the largest buyer and increased its purchases by 64%. However, several other national industries stepped up their purchases, including the 12 largest buyers. As a result, global deliveries of electronic flatbed machinery rose to a record high for the second consecutive year.

World Markets for Textile Machinery: Part 2?Fabric Manufacture

• Summary
• General Trends
• Weaving Machinery
• Circular Knitting Machinery
• Flat Knitting Machinery
• Statistical Appendix

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• World markets for textile machinery: part 1 -- yarn manufacture, July-August 2008, (July-August 2008)
• World markets for textile machinery: part 3 -- finishing, November-December 2007, (November-December 2007)

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