en.Wedoany.com Reported - In April 2026, China's textile and apparel exports amounted to $24.05 billion, a month-on-month increase of 44.7%. Among them, exports to the United States reached $4.11 billion, up 40.4% year-on-year and 58% month-on-month. Cumulative exports from January to April totaled $91.13 billion, up 0.8% year-on-year.
The improvement in Sino-U.S. relations has created a relatively stable environment for exports. U.S. President Donald Trump visited China from May 13 to 15, during which both sides agreed to establish a constructive and stable strategic relationship between China and the United States. On the eve of the visit, He Lifeng, China's lead for Sino-U.S. economic and trade affairs, and U.S. lead Bessent held economic and trade consultations in South Korea. The two sides agreed in principle to initiate reciprocal tariff reduction negotiations on $30 billion worth of non-sensitive, non-strategic goods each. However, trade protectionism in the European Union has notably intensified. The European Commission held a special meeting on China-related issues to discuss more systematic import quota and tariff measures against China in sectors such as chemicals, metals, and clean technologies. Meanwhile, the continued appreciation of the renminbi exchange rate has also exerted pressure on exports.
Looking at major markets, exports to the United States surged in April, with cumulative exports from January to April reaching $14.59 billion, up 6.8% year-on-year. Exports to ASEAN totaled $4.61 billion, down 4.2% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 14 percentage points from the previous month. Among these, exports of yarn and fabric reached $2.79 billion, up 3.7% year-on-year. Exports to the European Union amounted to $2.91 billion, down 6.3% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 16 percentage points. Exports to Japan stood at $1.3 billion, down 1.2% year-on-year. Exports to Belt and Road Initiative partner countries totaled $13.79 billion, down 8% year-on-year, with the decline narrowing by 25 percentage points. Notably, exports to Russia bucked the trend with a 16% increase.
In terms of product structure, exports of yarn and home textiles grew by 10.4% and 4% respectively in April, with yarn exports seeing both volume and price increases. Exports of fabric and knitted/woven apparel declined by 2.7% each. From January to April, all four major product categories experienced volume growth but price declines. The year-on-year changes in export values for yarn, fabric, home textiles, and knitted/woven apparel were +7.7%, +0.8%, +4.3%, and -0.9% respectively. Export volumes increased by 15.7%, 4.9%, 8.8%, and 4.6% respectively, while unit export prices fell by 6.9%, 3.9%, 4.1%, and 5.3% respectively.
On the import side, textile and apparel imports in April reached $1.9 billion, up 18.4% year-on-year. Cotton imports totaled 165,000 tons, down 5.8% month-on-month but up 1.7 times year-on-year, with Brazil as the main source country. Cumulative cotton imports from January to April reached 712,000 tons, up 79.2% year-on-year. According to data from the China Cotton Association, the traditional peak season for the textile industry continued in April, but terminal orders were insufficient to sustain momentum. Cotton resource consumption remained steady, and the planting of new cotton was nearing completion.
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