China and Australia launch new cooperation under the RCEP framework By Zhao Xinh

By Zhao Xinhua

Th e Australian textile industry employs approximate—ly 40,000 people out of the 25.69 million in the country.Although this is a relatively small amount, Australia has still become internationally known for garment compa—nies such as Billabong or Van Heusen, among others .Th e Australian textile industry has struggled off and on to keep up with Great Britain or the U.S. in fashion, fashion is one of the larger exports for Australia.

Australia’s unique natural materials for textiles stand out in the market due to its climate characteristics and the massive amount of open land suitable for growing various natural textile fibers such as cotton, hemp and banyan tree f ibers. In addition, technical textiles and new materials are leading to the growth in the sector, and R&D in sectors such as functional and natural f ibers may also create new opportunities in the future. Digital textile print—ing to create disruption in the market by innovating new designs and textiles.

Australia is the second highest consumer of textiles per person in the world, after the United States. Partici—pants agreed that a circular economy for textiles is critical to achieving a sustainable textile industry in Australia.Textile circularity provides a significant opportunity to drive innovation, better design, create new Australian jobs and recover valuable resources from items currently go—ing to landf ill.

Australia is one of the best places to produce wool, the export of wool has been f irmly in the world. Australian wool exports fell from AUD 2.754 billion in 2019—20 to AUD 2.563 billion in 2020—21 as a result of COVID—19. Australian wool exports to China increased sig—nif icantly in the second half of last season (2020—21). Asian coun—tries account for more than 80 percent of Australia’s wool exports,driven by rising demand from China, according to the Australian Bu—reau of Statistics (ABS). Th e Australian Wool Production Forecasting Committee (AWPFC) has updated its forecast of shorn wool produc—tion for the 2021—22 season to 314 million kilograms (Mkg) greasy,a 6.5 percent increase on the 2020—21 estimated shorn wool pro—duction of 294 Mkg greasy.

With the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Australia is gradually integrated into the regional integration of Asia—Pacific integration. Among RCEP member countries, Australia, as an important textile and garment consumer market in the world, has relatively sufficient purchas—ing power and is also an important export destination of China’s textile terminal products.

In 2021, Australia imported textiles and apparel from China to USD 8.05 billion, accounting for 2.2 percent of China’s total textile and apparel exports, of which imported clothing is USD 4.91 billion.In the f irst quarter of this year, Australian clothing imports were USD 2.45 billion, up 6.8 percent year—on—year. Imports from China were USD 1.52 billion, up 7.9 percent year—on—year, accounting for 62.1 percent, up 0.6 percentage points year—on—year. Imports from Ban—gladesh and Vietnam increased by 12.7 percent and 24.6 percent year—on—year respectively, with their share increasing by 0.5 and 0.8 percentage points respectively.

China has enjoyed zero tariff on the export of textiles and cloth—ing to Australia. Stable and mutually benef icial economic and trade relations and the increase of trade convenience make the Australian market with its unique advantages attract more and more Chinese textile export enterprises to seek development opportunities.

The Russia—Ukraine conflict, COVID—19 and floods in central and eastern Australia have pushed Australia’s inf lation rate to 4.5 percent in 2022. As Australia is a net importer of crude oil, f luctuations in global energy prices increase costs for agriculture and supply chains.

In late 2020, the Australian Government released its Modern Manufacturing Strategy as part of its economic recovery response to the COVID—19 pandemic. Th e Strat—egy aims to help manufacturers to scale—up, become more competitive and build more resilient supply chains.Investment is targeted to drive productivity and create jobs through six national manufacturing priority sectors,which ref lect Australia’s competitive advantage.