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Checking the Current Fabric of Taiwan`s Textile Machinery Industry
2007/08/06
The demand in Taiwan for textile machinery has been "fraying" since increasingly more operators in the labor-intensive textile industry, especially the fabric and garment segments, have found greener looms in mainland China and Vietnam over the past decade. But just because the demand on the island is waning, the local manufacturers of textile machinery are not about to accept such fate without a fight; instead they are trying to stay afloat by exporting more products.
Taiwan`s textile machinery manufacturers are by and large medium and small firms. According to the statistics compiled by the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI), Taiwan currently has 250 manufacturers of textile machinery, 98% of which are medium and small, with 90% clustered around Taichung in central Taiwan, Changhua further south, and Taipei in the north.
According to TAMI, each maker of textile machinery in Taiwan achieves average annual sales of NT$150 million (US$4.57 million at US$1:NT$32.8), which is triple the NT$50 million (US$1.52 million) generated by counterparts in the machinery industry overall. TAMI said that textile machinery manufacturers are smaller than machine-tool makers but larger than those in the other segments of the machinery industry.
In terms of production value for specific items, household sewing machines ranked first last year. Made-in-Taiwan sewing machines are mainly exported to the U.S., Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, and European Union nations. The second place went to knitting machines, followed by dyeing machine, peripheral equipment for yarn spinning and weaving, yarn spinning machines, and shuttle looms.
According to customs-cleared statistics compiled by TAMI, Taiwan exported US$236.42 million worth of textile machines in the first three months of this year, down 3.6% from the year earlier. TAMI attributes such export decline in the textile machinery industry overall to weaker demands for finishing machines and sewing machines.
Weaving Machinery Exports Up 30%
In terms of export values for specific segments, some US$1.56 million of manmade fiber-making machinery was exported in the first quarter of this year, up 32.8% year-on-year; US$16.28 million of yarn spinning machinery was shipped abroad, up 28.9%; US$5.53 million of weaving machines, up a whopping 30.6%; US$41.92 million of knitting machines, up 1.1%; US$28.53 million of auxiliary machines for spinning and weaving, up 3.1%; US$7.55 million of finishing machines, down 105%; US$43.36 million of dyeing machines, up 1.8%; and US$91.84 million of sewing machines was sold overseas, down 18%.
Hong Kong and mainland China together was the largest destination for Taiwan-made textile machines with export value totaling US$82.06 million in 2005, accounting for 34.7% of the total exported. Japan ranked second by absorbing US$17.14 million of such products, or 7.3% of the total export value. The U.S. came in third with US$14.087 million, accounting for 6%.
Other significant export outlets, in descending order, were India, with 6% of the total; Indonesia (5.8%), Bangladesh (5.6%), Vietnam (5%), and Thailand (4.9%).
Japan supplied Taiwan with the most textile machinery in 2005, selling NT$2.5 billion (US$76.21 million) of such products to the island, down 29% year-on-year and accounting for 26.6% of the total imports. Germany was the second-biggest supplier, supplying NT$2.3 billion (US$70.12 million) of the products to Taiwan, down 22% and commanding 24.9% of the total. Hong Kong and mainland China together ranked third at NT$1.64 billion (US$50 million), up 11% and accounting for 17.1%. Other major import sources, in descending order, were Switzerland, Italy, the U.S., France, Belgium, South Korea, and United Kingdom.
"Taiwan was one of the world`s largest producer of textile machines about a decade ago," says C.C. Wang, vice president of TAMI. "At that time, Taiwan also imported plenty of precision textile machines to meet the needs of the then fast-growing textile industry. Over the past several years, many domestic textile manufacturers have relocated to mainland China and Vietnam, with Taiwan makers of textile machinery being forced to follow suit so as to be nearer downstream users."
The statistics compiled by TAMI show that Taiwan`s textile machinery market peaked in 1998 when imports came to NT$35.6 billion (US$1.08 billion) and consumption of such machines totaled NT$39.5 billion (US$1.2 billion). Since then domestic consumption of textile machinery has been on the wane.
Only One Third of Peak Years`
TAMI tallies show that Taiwan consumed an average of between NT$13 billion (US$396.34 million) and NT$15 billion (US$457.31 million) of textile machinery annually from 2001 to 2005, only one-third as much as during the peak years, which indicates that the domestic textile machinery industry is no longer humming in glory.
Wang notes that Germany was the world`s largest producer of textile machinery in 2005, followed by Japan, Italy, Switzerland, France, the U.S., South Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan. Estimates are that the global production value of textile machinery reaches between US$18 billion and US$20 billion, with exports totaling between US$10 billion and US$13 billion.
Currently, Germany is capable of producing textile machines worth over US$5 billion yearly and Japan between US$4 billion and US$5 billion. The total production value of textile machines generated Germany and Japan came to approximately US$10 billion in 2005, or about a half of the world output.
TAMI says that mainland China was the world`s largest consumer of textile machinery in 2005, importing US$4 billion worth of such items and consuming about US$6 billion.
With mainland China becoming the world`s largest consumer of textile machinery, in October last year the China Textile Machinery Association (CTMA) and the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX) announced the combination of the world`s two most important textile-machinery exhibitions, ITMA Asia (International Exhibition of Textile Machinery Asia) and CITME (China International Textile Machinery Exhibition, into the ITMA ASIA (International Exhibition of Textile Machinery ASIA) + CITME, with the first edition to be unveiled in Shanghai in July 2008.
Big Show for a Mega Market
This two-in-one textile machinery show, ITMA ASIA + CITME, will be Asia`s biggest and most significant exhibition, whose importance is underlined by the array of the world`s leading brands and suppliers expected to be present.
The ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 is co-organized by the Beijing Textile Machinery International Exhibition Co., Ltd. and MP International Pte Ltd., who were both on-hand at the CITME 2006.
The ITMA (International Exhibition of Textile Machinery) is organized by the Germany-based Messe Munchen International GmbH. The exhibition has been held at different venues every four years since 1951, and is billed as the world`s largest exhibition for textile machines and accessories.
Taiwan rolled out US$1.1 billion worth of textile machines in 2005, 90% of which was exported. Due to the sharp shrinkage in domestic demand, manufacturers in this line have to rely on exports to survive. At present, Taiwan`s largest export outlets for textile machinery include mainland China, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia. Taiwan manufacturers in this line acknowledge that they have to relocate production to mainland China and Southeast Asia to keep up with global trends.
Exports of Taiwan-made Textile Machinery by Products (2003-2005) Unit: NT$ million | Product | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | Value | Ratio (%) | Annual Change (%) | Value | Ratio (%) | Annual Change (%) | Value | Ratio (%) | Annual Change (%) | Man-made Fiber-making Machines | 142 | 0.4 | 54 | 261 | 0.7 | 185 | 141 | 0.4 | 144 | Spinning Machines | 1,907 | 5.7 | 94 | 2,020 | 5.7 | 100 | 2,012 | 5.8 | 104 | Weaving Machines | 713 | 2.1 | 94 | 760 | 2.2 | 105 | 726 | 2.1 | 72 | Knitting Machines | 5,221 | 15.5 | 115 | 4,545 | 12.9 | 103 | 4,394 | 12.7 | 98 | Auxiliary Machines for Spinning, Weaving | 3,759 | 11.1 | 80 | 4,692 | 13.3 | 114 | 4,117 | 11.9 | 105 | Finishing Machines | 781 | 2.3 | 101 | 776 | 2.2 | 101 | 766 | 2.2 | 125 | Dyeing Machines | 4,953 | 14.7 | 97 | 5,113 | 14.5 | 86 | 5,925 | 17.1 | 98 | Sewing Machines | 16,238 | 48.2 | 95 | 17,116 | 48.5 | 103 | 16,623 | 47.9 | 95 | Total | 33,714 | 100 | 96 | 35,283 | 100 | 102 | 34,704 | 100 | 98 | Source: Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry |
Exports of Taiwan-made Textile Machinery by Destinations (2003-2005) Unit: NT$ million | Destination | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | Value | Ratio (%) | Annual Change (%) | Value | Ratio (%) | Annual Change (%) | Value | Ratio (%) | Annual Change (%) | 1 | China + H.K. | 6,963 | 39.8 | 88 | 7,950 | 43.8 | 96 | 8,262 | 45.7 | 95 | 2 | Bangladesh | 1,712 | 9.8 | 134 | 1,277 | 7.0 | 169 | 754 | 4.2 | 145 | 3 | India | 1,202 | 6.9 | 157 | 767 | 4.2 | 110 | 700 | 3.9 | 102 | 4 | Thailand | 1,081 | 6.2 | 81 | 1,331 | 7.3 | 115 | 1,156 | 6.4 | 98 | 5 | Vietnam | 1,053 | 6.0 | 86 | 1,230 | 6.8 | 97 | 1,270 | 7.0 | 135 | 6 | Indonesia | 889 | 5.1 | 90 | 989 | 5.4 | 117 | 845 | 4.7 | 83 | 7 | Turkey | 756 | 4.3 | 96 | 785 | 4.3 | 108 | 724 | 4.0 | 152 | 8 | Japan | 529 | 3.0 | 108 | 491 | 2.7 | 50 | 975 | 5.4 | 74 | 9 | Pakistan | 344 | 2.0 | 71 | 484 | 2.7 | 107 | 452 | 2.5 | 160 | 10 | U.S. | 300 | 1.7 | 92 | 327 | 1.8 | 118 | 276 | 1.5 | 90 | 11 | Malaysia | 254 | 1.5 | 70 | 364 | 2.0 | 119 | 307 | 1.7 | 82 | 12 | S. Korea | 166 | 0.9 | 90 | 185 | 1.0 | 74 | 251 | 1.4 | 84 | | | Others | 2,227 | 12.7 | 112 | 1,987 | 10.9 | 94 | 2,109 | 11.7 | 102 | | | Total | 17,476 | 100 | 96 | 18,167 | 100 | 100 | 18,081 | 100 | 100 | Source: Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry |
(by Ben Shen)
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