Companies see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel: ITMF Survey

Between January 25 and march 10, 2021, ITMP has
conducted the 7th ITMF Corona-Survey among ITMF
members and affiliated companies and associations about
the impact the Corona-pandemic has on the global textile
value chain. In total, 196 companies from around the
world participated. The first ITMF Corona-Survey was
conducted in March 2020 when the first lockdowns were
announced in Europe.

The seventh survey revealed that actual turnover in
2020 was -9% lower compared to 2019 (see Graph 1).
While this decrease is significantly better than the
expected drop of -33% in the 3rd survey at the height of
the first Corona- wave in April 2020, the year 2020 will
go down into history as one of the worst years for the
global textile and apparel industry.

In comparison to the expectations expressed in the
sixth ITMF Corona-Survey (November 20 – December 14,
2020), actual turnover for 2020 compared to 2019 has
improved by 3 percentage points from -12% to now -9%
(Graph 1).

As could be expected the entire textile value chain
was hit hard by the pandemic including textile machinery
producers. Practically all segments under review were
impacted negatively to different degrees in 2020. The two
segments standing out positively are the producers of
nonwovens (+/-0%) and of fibres (+10%). It can be
assumed that those two segments have benefitted from
the extraordinary demand for masks during 2020, which
compensated to a significant extent for the loss in other
areas like automotive or apparel.

For 2021 and the following years up to 2024, turnover
expectations are positive and have overall not changed
compared to previous surveys. On a global level, turnover
expectations are especially strong for 2021 and 2022, an
indication that companies are expecting a strong
recovery. For 2023 and 2024 companies’ growth
expectations are weaker. Looking at the various regions
the most striking result is the positive expectations of
companies in Africa (+31% by 2024), compared to the
other regions that range between +12 and +21%.