The Korean textile trade faces a decline because of misplaced value competitiveness and failure to transition to high-value-added merchandise.
Regardless of the rising world market, Korea’s share in industrial and eco-friendly textiles stays low, exacerbated by elevated imports and a commerce deficit.
In keeping with the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Assets on Han. 11, final 12 months’s textile export worth recorded $9.681 billion, a lower of seven.5% in comparison with the earlier 12 months ($10.463 billion). This marks the primary time textile exports have fallen under the $10 billion threshold in 38 years since 1987.
Textiles have lengthy maintained their place as a consultant export mainstay. Amongst home industries, it was the primary single sector to surpass $10 billion in annual exports in 1987. To commemorate this achievement, Nov. 11, the day the $10 billion milestone was reached, was designated as Textile Day. Nevertheless, textile export values have fluctuated because the 2000s, and from 2022 onwards, they’ve entered a whole downward pattern, barely exceeding $10 billion.
In the meantime, textile import values have proven an growing pattern, deteriorating the commerce steadiness. Textile import values, which stood at $9.739 billion in 2010, elevated by 26.6% in only one 12 months to $12.33 billion in 2011, and continued to rise, recording $18.749 billion final 12 months. The textile sector has been exhibiting a commerce deficit persistently since 2016.
Specialists cite because the trigger that regardless of exports declining because of intensified competitors with latecomer international locations comparable to China because the 2000s, the trade has solely centered on abroad growth with out establishing any substantial development drivers. The criticism is that as different growing international locations entered the clothes textile market primarily based on low cost labor, the home textile trade misplaced value competitiveness. Though specialists identified that there needs to be a swift transition to high-value-added superior and eco-friendly industrial textiles, this effort additionally failed.
In keeping with the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Assets, the worldwide industrial textile market, which was $146.7 billion in 2021, is projected to develop at a mean annual charge of 4.7% and broaden to $192.2 billion by 2027. Nevertheless, as of 2023, Korea’s share within the world industrial textile market was solely 3%. The share within the eco-friendly textile market was additionally low at 2%.
An trade official identified, “As home facility funding decreased as a result of offensive from China and different international locations, and labor shortages intensified, even manufacturing corporations relocated abroad on a big scale, resulting in the collapse of the home textile trade’s manufacturing basis,” including, “Whereas we try to develop industrial textiles, we nonetheless have a protracted option to go because of know-how gaps and different components.”
