In April, the United States' imposition of ‘reciprocal tariffs’ on global trading partners increased uncertainty for China's textile and apparel(T&A) exports.

However, despite these challenges, China's textile and apparel exports increased by 1.5 per cent Y-o-Y and 3.4 per cent M-o-M in April to $24.19 billion. Textile exports by the country by 3.4 per cent Y-o-Y to $12.58 billion while apparel exports declined by 0.5 per cent Y-o-Y to $11.61 billion.

From January to April 2025, cumulative textile and apparel exports by China increased by 1.1 per cent Y-o-Y to $90.47 billion. Of these, textile exports increased by 3.8 per cent Y-o-Y to $45.85 billion while apparel exports declined by 1.5 per cent Y-o-Y to $44.62 billion.

When viewed in Chinese Yuan (CNY) terms, the cumulative textile and apparel exports from January to April amounted to 649.54 billion yuan, a 2.2 per cent Y-o-Y increase. Within this, textile exports rose by 4.9 per cent Y-o-Y to 329.17 billion yuan, while apparel exports declined by 0.5 per cent Y-o-Y to 320.37 billion yuan.

In April alone, CNY-denominated textile and apparel exports increased by 0.5 per cent Y-o-Y and 3.3 per cent M-o-M to 173.44 billion yuan. Textile exports increased by 2.4 per cent Y-o-Y to 90.21 billion yuan during the year.