ITMF survey: Coronavirus led to major production reduction

Posted October 7, 2020

Between September 5th and 25th, the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) conducted its fifth ITMF Corona-Survey among ITMF members and affiliated companies and associations about the impact the Coronavirus pandemic has on the global textile value chain.

In total, 216 companies from around the world participated. They report that the Corona-pandemic led to a significant reduction of production capacities. Twenty-three percent of the respondents reduced production by more than -30 percent and another 19 percent by -20 percent to 30 percent. On the other side of the spectrum – and unsurprisingly – only 9% of companies have increased their production capacity during the pandemic. Twenty-one percent did not make any change (Graph 1).

Furthermore, 21% of all surveyed companies are expecting turnover to be back to pre-crisis level in 2020. Eleven percent of companies think it is more likely to happen in the first quarter of 2021, 15 percent in the second quarter of 2021 and 17 percent in the third quarter of 2021. It is important to note that 25 percent of all companies are expecting turnover to reach pre-crisis levels in 2022 and 2023 (Graph 2).

Source: ITMF