For March 2016 Chinese spandex exports were up 23.8 per cent year on year and 41.9 per cent month on month. For the first three months of 2016, total exports surged by 16.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2015. There was a strong demand from traditional textile markets including Turkey and emerging textile markets such as southeastern and southern Asia. In March, demand from Turkey, Pakistan, and Vietnam increased significantly while that from South Korea was largely steady.

China has a surpluse of spandes. In recent years, spandex capacity expanded rapidly, which led to excess supply. Spandex prices plunged and many spandex plants eventually suffered losses. In face of greater competition in the domestic market, many spandex plants developed an export market to ease inventory pressure. So far some plants have already made some progress in the export market and their products have been accepted by more customers.

There is a good demand for Chinese spandex in overseas markets. In March 2016, nearly half of spandex exports were from multinational companies. But Chinese companies also did remarkably well. Huafon for instance exported about 510 tons of spandex, accounting for about 10 per cent of total exports.