"The latest results of the 41st annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) shows, there was an increase 1.5 per cent and 13 per cent in global shipment of new short-staple spindles and open-end rotors to the world spinning industry in 2018. Similarly, shipment of draw-texturing spindles increased 50 per cent while deliveries of shuttle-less looms improved 39 per cent."

The latest results of the 41st annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) shows, there was an increase 1.5 per cent and 13 per cent in global shipment of new short-staple spindles and open-end rotors to the world spinning industry in 2018. Similarly, shipment of draw-texturing spindles increased 50 per cent while deliveries of shuttle-less looms improved 39 per cent. However, shipments of long-staple spindles, circular knitting machines, and electronic flat knitting machines decreased by 27 per cent, 4 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

The ITMSS report was released in June by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF). The report covers six segments of textile machinery, namely spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large diameter circular knitting, flat knitting and finishing. The 2018 survey has been compiled in cooperation with more than 200 textile machinery manufacturers representing a comprehensive measure of world production.

Circular Knitting Machinery: Shipment of large diameter circular knitting machines declined by 4 per cent to 26,300 units in 2018. Asia and Oceania emerged as the world’s leading investors in this category with 85 per cent. Amongst Asia, China emerged as the largest investor with 48 per cent of the worldwide deliveries to this region.

Flat Knitting Machinery: The shipment of electronic flat knitting machines decreased by 20 per cent to around 160,000 machines in 2018. Asia & Oceania emerged as the major exporters of this category with a share of 95 per cent of world shipments. Here too, China remained the world’s largest investor with a global share of 86 per cent of worldwide shipments despite a decrease in investments from 154,850 units to 122,550 units.

Spinning Machinery: Spinning machinery shipment increased for the second consecutive year, with the total number of shipped short-staple spindles increasing to 126,000 units, leveling off at 8.66 million. Around 92 per cent of these new short-staple spindles were shipped to Asia & Oceania with shipments to Korea, Turkey, Vietnam and Egypt increasing by of 834 per cent, 306 per cent, 290 per cent and 285 per cent respectively.

Texturing Machinery: Similarly, shipment of single heater draw-texturing spindles increased 48 per cent to 22,800 in 2018. China and Japan were the main investors in this segment with a share of 68% and 11% of global deliveries, respectively. The global shipments of double heater draw-texturing spindles by +50 per cent to about 490’000 spindles. Of this, Asia’s share increased to 93 per cent with China accounting for 68 per cent of global shipments.

Weaving Machinery: Shipment of shuttle-less looms increased 39 per cent to 133,500 units. Thereby, shipments of air-jet and water-jet looms increased by 21 per cent to 32,750 and +91 per cent to 69,240, respectively. Deliveries of rapier/projectile looms declined by 5 per cent to 31,560.

The main destination for shuttle-less looms in 2018 was Asia & Oceania with 93 per cent of all worldwide deliveries. The main investors included China and India in all three categories.

Finishing Machinery: In the fabrics continuous segment, shipments of Washing (stand-alone), Singeing Line, Relax Dryers/Tumblers, Stenters, and Sanforizers/Compacters increased by 58 per cent, 20 per cent, 9 per cent, 3 per cent, and 1 per cent, respectively. In the category ‘fabrics discontinuous’, shipments of Air-jet dyeing machines increased by 16% and deliveries of Overflow dyeing and Jigger dyeing/Beam dyeing machines fell by 7 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.