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| Issue date:01/08/2006 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - Aug 2006 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
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| With its favorable geographical location and healthy economic growth, Xiantao (仙桃), a city in Hubei Province (湖北省), is shaping up to become another major textile town in China |
Xiantao has five signatures, according to Ma Qingming, Secretary of Xiantao Municipal CPC Committee (仙桃市委書記馬清明) — a town of gymnastics, a marsh land of investment in Central China, a regional backyard of Wuhan, a dynamic economic system ("Wenzhou" in Hubei) and a booming textile town.
Industry modernization
In recent years, Xiantao textile and garment industry has found a new approach for development through promoting its industrial clusters. The two key industrial areas, Xiantao Industrial Park (仙桃工業園) and Xiantao Economic & Technical Development Zone (仙桃市經濟技術開發區) together host 90% of the textile enterprises and 93% of the industrial production capacity of the city.
And some recent figures indicated that such new approach had begun to pay off. Last year, the industry earned RMB2.4 billion in sales income and RMB 94.9 million in profit tax. Some 26,333 tons of yarn, 41,385,500 meters of fabric and 25,732,500 pieces of garment were produced.
During the first quarter of this year, the industry earned RMB 469 million in sales income, and generated RMB20 million for taxation, representing an increase of 20.6% and 70% over the same period last year. Some 7,500 tons of yarn, 14,700,000 meters of fabric and 5,000,000 pieces of garment were churned out, up 21.2%, 13.5% and 65.7% year-on-year respectively.
Through readjustment of industrial structure, Xiantao has basically formed an industrial chain ranging from spinning, knitting to dyeing and finishing and garment manufacturing. Currently, Xiantao has 34 large-scale textile and garment enterprises, including 12 in textile manufacturing and 22 in garment making.
Many famous enterprises have now settled in Xiantao. Hubei Maiya Co, Ltd (邁亞) is a production base of fabric for suits and a supplier of high-ended shirts. Hubei Yubo Textile (Group) Co, Ltd (裕波) is the largest denim supplier in Hubei. Hubei Yinfeng Textile Co, Ltd (銀豐) and Maiya are high-grade yarn production enterprises. Dyed/printed fabrics from Hubei Lianliang Textile Co, Ltd (聯亮) holds a large market share. In addition, Yanglinwei Town (楊林尾), Xiliuhe Town (西流河), Tonghaikou Town (通海口) and Douhe Town (剅河) in Xiantao are well-known production bases of export garment in Hubei.
To expand their R&D capacities, many of these enterprises have established close cooperation with major universities and institutes, such as Hubei Textile Institute (湖北紡院), East China Textile University (華東紡大) and Tianjin Textile Institute (天津紡院).
In addition, to enhance the competitiveness of its textile and garment industry, Xiantao has basically completed the equipment modernization period.
For spinning, compact spinning equipments with a total of 30,000 spindles were installed at Maiya. Currently, there are no more than 40,000 spindles of such equipment installed in China. For weaving, the penetration of shuttleless looms in Xiantao is 59%, far above the average level of Hubei Province. In the dyeing industry, Xiantao has introduced a full range of colored weaving and dyeing technology to satisfy the increasing demand of "small batch, diversified variety and quick change" production. In garment making, Xiantao has basically accomplished automatic cutting and computer-aided sewing.
Future objectives and challenges
This year is China's first year of the "11th Five-year Plan" period. State government and the local government have formulated relevant development plans. Cai Chuanyuan, President of Xiantao Textile Industrial Association (仙桃紡織行業協會會長蔡傳遠) gives a brief description on the development target of Xiantao textile industry during this period.
He points out that technical innovation is the key task for the "11th Five-year Plan" period, including innovation in three aspects. He explains, "First is process innovation. That is to introduce advanced production equipment and to reform traditional process in order to reconstruct production process and improve productivity. Second is product upgrading. We will guide enterprises to develop new products and guide market consumption. Third is functionality upgrading. Garment enterprises should forge ahead in the direction from OEM to ODM to design, manufacture and shape their proprietary brands."
Targets of the "11th Five-year Plan"
- Scale and capacity: 1,000,000 spindles in cotton spinning, including 850,000 spindles for advanced spinning equipments; more than 5,000 looms and 4,500 shuttleless looms;
- Over 100,000 tons in output of cotton yarn and over 200,000,000 pieces in garment production;
- By 2010, sales income to hit RMB 5 billion and profit/tax to hit RMB 450 million. |
But with the shift of the textile industry from the coastal regions to the inland areas, how can Xiantao continue to maintain its the current position?
"The sign of this shift is obvious but Xiantao still has the advantage. Xiantao's textile industry has formed a considerable scale and its industrial chain has evolved from 'segments' into relatively complete 'industrial cluster'. More importantly, Xiantao has a team of skilled workers and complete infrastructure," said Mr Cai.
"In recent years, some natives who have operated their businesses in the coastal regions with a number of market channels have come back to set up production facilities in Xiantao. Hong Kong enterprises are investing in the city as well. For example, Hong Kong U-Right Garment Co Ltd (香港佑威服裝公司) invested US$25 million to set up a production facility here. It is expected to start production this September or October," he added.
Despite the rapid growth, Xiantao's textile and garment industry is not without challenge. First of all, the heavy dependence of cotton materials from outside the area and the fluctuation of cotton price have led to high production cost. For example, between 2004 and 2005, the industry has to pay RMB 3.8 million more for raw cotton to meet its annual demand of 70,000 tons. Moreover, the sharp rises in fuel, power and transportation have also put the enterprises under pressure.
How to solve the problem of "First-class equipment, second-class products and third-class price" is another problem faced by Xiantao. Although most textile enterprises in Xiantao have their equipments upgraded, they are still weak in product R&D, operation management, brand strategy and enterprise culture. Therefore, most enterprises remain OEM enterprises who stay with low-end processing techniques.
Pengchang: Xiantao's largest base of nonwoven products for export
Pengchang town (彭場) in the southeast of Xiantao won the title of "Famous Town of Nonwovens Product in China," granted by China National Textile & Apparel Council (中國紡織工業協會) in October, 2002. "Pengchang is the first town in the country to win this title," said Guo Hexin (郭合信), Honorary President of CNITA (China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association) Spunbond Division (中國產業用紡織品行業協會紡粘法分會名譽會長).
In fact, Xiantao's nonwovens industry is forging ahead in the direction of specialization.
A land area of 162 square kilometers with a population of less than 100,000, Pengchang has 168 industrial enterprises, of which 116 are within the nonwovens industry. Some 22,000 out of the total 30,000 industrial employees are in the nonwovens sectors.
Hubei Xinfa Plastic Products Co Ltd, the first nonwoven product enterprise in Pengchang |
Among the 116 nonwovens enterprises, more than 10 are foreign-owned joint venture enterprises, and more than 50 are industrial and trading cooperative enterprises. While 78 of them provide nonwovens production and processing, 38 are supporting enterprises engaged in the production of rubber band, zipper, button, filter paper, cutting, thread and packing.
Some 42 enterprises with the permit for export generate around RMB 2 billion in export value each year, accounting for 40% of China's total nonwovens export.
"The dramatic growth of Xiantao's nonwovens industry was mainly due to the favorable government policies, particularly those for private enterprises. In addition, Xiantao has a deep-rooted historical foundation of the light industry," said Fu Lixin (付立新), President of Pengchang Nonwovens Industry Association (彭場鎮無紡布行業協會會長).
Mr Fu added that the town is to boost nonwoven production output in the future and leverage the reputation of "Famous Nonwoven Product Town in China" to develop high-grade products. "Most enterprises in Pengchang are engaged in finishing processes. They purchase nonwoven fabrics and process them into finished products. But in future, we will intensify nonwovens production output," he said.
Mr Cai Chuanyuan also suggested three directions for the development of Pengchang's nonwovens industry. "The first direction is to expand the output of nonwovens. Currently, nonwoven fabrics produced in Pengchang can only meet less than 20% of the local demand. The second is to forge ahead towards high-tech production, transforming traditional workshops into modern workshops to improve product quality. The third is to set up some distribution channels. A large trading market for nonwoven and garment fabrics and a new logistics center have been planned to be built in the 400-acreage Liukou New Industrial District (劉口工業新區), which is just 3km away from Pengchang." |
Background information was provided by Xiantao Textile Industry Association.
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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