Latest German textile and clothing figures
The month of August 2011 was a better months for German textile and clothing manufacturers
Textile mills turnover in August 2011 increased by 10.7 % as against the same months in 2010, meaning increase from a low level. Also clothing increased its turnover by 8.8% and the umbrella organization Gesamtverband textil+mode expects due to the lately stagnant development an increase of four to five percent for all of 2011. Employment in the textile industry rose slightly by 0.9 % in August whereas in the clothing industry it fell by 2.9 % and therefore the average figure for the two branches of industries shows -2.9 % and in total at the end of the ongoing year the total number of employees is an estimated 120000 . Textile production increased in August by 4.9% and the output of the clothing industry rose by 2.7 %. The order situation showed for the textile industry an increase by 6.7 % and for clothing 9.5 %. For the first time within eight months textile production prices showed an uptrend of 7.2 % and clothing production by 1.9 %.
Clothing retailers increased turnover by 3.1 % whereas the average plus in retailing reached only 2.8%. German textile exports grew by 15.1 % but also imports by 18.0%. Clothing exports added 14.1 % and imports 20.7% leading to a negative balance of trade of +32.0 %. Partially due to the rising cost of raw materials the import of such materials increased by 44.9 %.