German textile and clothing sector in August
According to the German umbrella association textil+mode the sectors are on an growth path apart from actual backlashes in some subsectors. The clothing sector had to face a decrease during summertime. In addition there were continued problems in exports, namely with Russia. However the positive factors are dominating, such as the continued increase of employment, this is why the forecast of sales remains at the planned level of +1.5 % for the entire year.
Turnover varied in August as already in July: Increases in the textiles sector (+5.2 %), on the other hand sales in the clothing sector decreased in August by -4.2 %, thus the textile segment is registering up to August a plus of 2.8 %, whereas the clothing segment has increased by meagre +0.2 %. Driving sales were again Technical Textiles such as nonwovens and rope making. The clothing sector was affected by the low domestic and export trade figures as well as in exports to Russia.
Employment increased again in both segments, namely in the textile sector +2.4% and clothing +0.7 %. Thus the two sectors were growing in the first eight months at a rate of 1.3 %. In parallel the working hours were up markedly in textiles (+7.6 %) and in clothing (+5.8 %). In comparison with 2014 an increase of 1.2 % results for the two sectors.
Domestic production presents a torn image: The textile segment increased domestic production by 2.2 %, whereas the clothing segment decreased in August by 1.9 % as against 2014, whereas textiles could add 2.9 %.
Producer prices in textiles remained nearly unchanged, in the clothing sector these remain constant at +1.3 % above the value for 2014.
Retail sales decreased as expected in August by 9.4 %. On the lean month of August it is expected that demand will increase in September. In August retail turnover and in comparison to the same month in 2014 decreased by 0.3 %. Total German retail sales increased by 2.6 %.
External trade in textiles increased up to August 2015 and against 2014 by 2.3 %. Textile imports increased by 6.0 %. Clothing exports increased in August by 0.1 %, imports increased however by 6.9 %. The heterogeneous development continued: Clothing exports solely to Russia decreased in the first half of 2015 by 28 %, textiles by 33.6 %. Other countries outside of the Euro Zone registered impressive growth rates. The import surplus of both segments increased in comparison to 2014 by 15.4 %.
Raw material imports decreased against 2014 by 4.3 %.
The ifo business index has been markedly lower for both segments. Also the forecast of companies of the manufacturing sector is decreasing, however more distinctively in textiles and clothing. As of today it is expected that the actual weakness in the clothing segment is considered as temporary and positive sales of +1.5 % until the end of 2015 are to be expected.