Overall shipments of textile machinery remained relatively high looking at the past few years’ shipments. After a sharp reduction in global shipments of new textile machinery in 2008 and 2009 as a result of the global financial and economic crisis in 2008/2009, deliveries of new textile machinery jumped in 2010 and 2011, in most cases to new record highs.

In comparison to 2011 global shipments of new short-staple spindles and open-end rotors decreased by 27% and 21%, respectively, whereas shipments of long-staple spindles increased by 29%. Shipments of new draw-texturing spindles declined by 13%, of new shuttle-less looms by 44%, and of new electronic flat-knitting machines by 34%. On the other hand worldwide shipments of new large circular knitting machines increased in 2012 by 27%.

These are the main results of the 35th annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) just released by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF). The report covers six segments of textile machinery, namely spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large circular knitting, flat knitting and finishing machinery. The 2012 survey has been compiled in cooperation with some 122 textile machinery manufacturers, representing a comprehensive measure of world production.

Circular & Flat Knitting Machinery

Global shipments of large circular knitting machines increased by 27% from 28,900 in 2011 to 36,650 in 2012 which set a new record. In this segment Asia was the main regional investor in this type of machinery absorbing 33,600 units or 92% of all machines shipped in 2012. The biggest single investor was once more China with a total of 28,280 (a global market share of 77%) followed by Turkey with 1,420 (3.9%), Indonesia with 1,350 (3.7%), India with 1,200 (3.3%) and Bangladesh with 735 (2.0%).

In the segment of electronic flat knitting machines, global shipments in 2012 dropped by 34% to 46,100 machines. The bulk of global shipments of electronic flat knitting machines was delivered to Asia (40,940 or 89%), while Europe's share (including Turkey) reached 10% (4,670 machines). The biggest single investor in 2012 was again China, where 33,040 new machines (72%) were installed, followed by Bangladesh with 4,360 (9.5%), Turkey with 2,660 (5.8%), Hong Kong with 1,090 (2.4%) and Italy with 826 (1.8%).

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