How much is the much publicised down turn affecting the Chinese export market for apparel? Well it turns out the latest q3 figures illustrate an incredible upturn in export volumes from the UK into China with almost £13.5 million worth of apparel exported compared to £7.8 million in q3 2014. Export values to China in September 2015 was more than double that reported in September 2014.
Table 1: Quarterly exports of apparel from the UK to China
Source: UKTI
This is more interesting given that q2 figures were down on the comparable quarter in 2014. A potential answer for this in the face of the lower growth within the Chinese market could possibly be found in a number of factors that have changed the export environment in q3 2015. Up to the beginning of q3 2015, the Yuan has risen significantly by almost 10 percent making UK exports less attractive to the Chinese consumer whilst growth indicators were falling.
However, since then, the Yuan has devalued significantly fueling consumer spending. It is also the nature of the luxury markets that are again proving impervious to the target market audience at the high end of the Chinese consumer so insulated more from the Chinese economic slowdown.
Imports
What can be gauged by the figures for imports coming in from China? Patterns shows an inverse to the export market with import values from China down slightly in both q2 and q3 2015 when compared to the same period in 2014. This followed slight growth in q4 2013 and q1 2014. Q4 2014 saw an upturn in values compared with q4 2013.
Table 2: Quarterly imports of apparel from China into the UK
Source: UKTI
