Shipments of new textile machinery decreased in most segments in 2022, except in spinning

These are the main results of the 45th annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) just released by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF). The report covers six segments of textile machinery, namely spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large circular knitting, flat knitting, and finishing. A summary of the findings for each category is presented below. The 2022 survey has been compiled in cooperation with more than 200 textile machinery manufacturers representing a comprehensive measure of world production.

Spinning Machinery
The total number of shipped short-staple spindles increased by 2,1 mn units in 2022 to a level of 9.76 mn. Most of the new shipments went to Asia & Oceania (86 percent) where deliveries increased by +21 percent compared to 2021. Europe (incl. Türkiye) and America, North, rank 2nd and 3rd with respect to new deliveries. While levels remained relatively small in Africa, the region ranked 4th and experienced the strongest surge in year-on-year shipments with a +290 percent-increase (primarily going to Egypt). The six largest investors in the short-staple segment were China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan.

1,28 mn open-end rotors were shipped worldwide in 2022. This represents 587 thousand additional units compared to 2021. 87 percent of global shipments went to Asia & Oceania where deliveries increased by +91 percent to 1,1 mn rotors. China, India, and Turkey were the world’s 3 largest investors in rotors and saw investments surging by +67 percent, +261percent and +91percent, respectively. Deliveries of rotors rose in all major destination countries except for Vietnam and Brazil, the 7th and 8th largest destinations in 2022, where shipment of rotors decreased by -34 percent and -30 percent compared to 2021 (totalling around 15 thousand units in each case).

Global shipments of long-staple (wool) spindles increased from 31,6 thousand in 2021 to 93’000 in 2022 (+195%). This effect was mainly driven by a rise in deliveries to Asia & Oceania with a +435%-increase in investment. 21% of total deliveries were shipped to China, 20% to Uzbekistan, and 15% to Iran.

Texturing Machinery
Global shipments of single heater draw-texturing spindles (mainly used for polyamide filaments) decreased by -14 percent from nearly 75,1 thousand units in 2021 to 64,4 thousand units in 2022. With a share of 95 percent, Asia & Oceania remained the strongest destination for single heater draw-texturing spindles in 2022. China, Türkiye, and Japan were the 3 main investors in this segment with a share of 84 percent, 3,5 percent, and 2,3 percent of global deliveries, respectively.

In the category of double heater draw-texturing spindles (mainly used for polyester filaments), global shipments decreased by -13 percent to a level of 756 thousand spindles. Asia’s share of worldwide shipments remained at 95 percent and China continued to be the world’s largest investor, accounting for 86 percent of global shipments.

Weaving Machinery
In 2022, global shipments of shuttle-less looms decreased by -23 percent to 114 thousand units. Deliveries in the categories “air-jet” and “water-jet” dropped by -13 percent and -38,4 percent to 39,3 and 46,6 thousand looms, respectively. The number of “rapier and projectile” looms rose by +5.3 percent to 28,3 thousand units. The main destination for shuttle-less looms in 2022 was Asia & Oceania with 93 percent of worldwide deliveries. 95 percent, 85 percent, and 97 percent of global air-jet, rapier/projectile, and water-jet looms were shipped to that region, respectively. The main investor for air-jet and water-jet looms was China. The main investor for rapier-and-projectile looms was India with 11.4 thousand units (a 70%-increase compared to 2021).

Circular & Flat Knitting Machinery
Global shipments of large circular knitting machines declined by -27 percent to 28’651 units in 2022. The region Asia & Oceania was the world’s leading investor in this category with 77 percent of global shipments. China was the favoured destination with 45 percent of all deliveries (i.e., 9’930 units) despite a decrease of -55 percent compared to 2021. India and Bangladesh ranked second and third destinations with 3’105 and 2’644 units, respectively.

In 2022, the number of shipped electronic flat knitting machines decreased by -24 percent to 72,6 thousand machines. Asia & Oceania was the main destination for such machines with a share of 83 percent of world shipments. China remained the world’s largest investor with a 63 percent-share of total shipments despite a -41 percent – decrease in investment. Shipments to the country dropped from 67,7 thousand units in 2021 to 39.6 thousand units in 2022.

Finishing Machinery
In the “fabrics continuous” segment, the number of shipped stenters decreased by -35 percent from 2’750 units in 2021 to 1’780 units in 2022. This number includes an estimate for the total number of stenters shipped by companies which have not participated to the ITMF survey to better grasp the global market size for finishing machinery. Participating companies reported a decrease in all other machine categories covered in the report (between -2,5 percent for “Relax Dryers / Tumblers” and -81 percent for “Bleaching – Line”), with exception of “Singeing Line” which grew from 4 to 22 units. In the “fabrics discontinuous” segment, the number of shipped “jigger dyeing / beam dyeing” and “air jet dyeing” declined by -35 percent and -45 percent to 707 units and 675 units, respectively. In 2022, deliveries in the categories “overflow dyeing” increased by +4 percent to 1’714 units.