ITMF
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In 2021, global shipments of spinning, texturing, weaving, knitting, and finishing machines increased sharply compared to 2020. Deliveries of new short-staple spindles, open-end rotors, and long-staple spindles rose by +110%, +65%, and +44%, respectively. The number of shipped draw-texturing spindles surged by +177% and deliveries of shuttle-less looms grew by +32%. Shipments of large circular machines improved by +30% and shipped flat knitting machines registered a 109%-growth. The sum of all deliveries in the finishing segment also rose by +52% on average.
These are the main results of the 44th annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) just released by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF), Zurich/Switzerland. The report covers 6 segments of textile machinery, namely spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large circular knitting, flat knitting and finishing. The 2021 survey has been compiled in cooperation with more than 200 textile machinery manufacturers representing a comprehensive measure of world production.
The total number of shipped short-staple spindles increased by about 4 million units in 2021 to a level of 7.61 million. Most of the new short-staple spindles (90%) were shipped to Asia & Oceania, where delivery increased by +115%.
695,000 open-end rotors were shipped worldwide in 2021. This represents 273,000 additional units compared to 2020. 83% of global shipments went to Asia & Oceania where deliveries increased by +65% to 580,000 rotors.
Global shipments of long-staple (wool) spindles increased from about 22,000 in 2020 to nearly 31,600 in 2021 (+44%).
Deliveries of single heater draw-texturing spindles (mainly used for polyamide filaments) increased by +365% from nearly 16,000 units in 2020 to 75.000 in 2021. With a share of 94%, Asia & Oceania was the strongest destination for single heater draw-texturing spindles. China, Chinese Taipei, and Turkey were the main investors in this segment with a share of 90%, 2.3%, and 1,5% of global deliveries, respectively.
In the category of double heater draw-texturing spindles (mainly used for polyester filaments) global shipments increased by +167% to a level of 870,000 spindles. Asia’s share of worldwide shipments increased to 95%. Thereby, China remained the largest investor accounting for 92% of global shipments.
In 2021, worldwide shipments of shuttle-less looms increased by +32% to 148,000 units. Shipments in the categories “air-jet”, “rapier and projectile”, and “water-jet” rose by +56% to nearly 45,776 units, by +24% to 26,897, and by +23% to 75,797 units, respectively. The main destination for shuttle-less looms in 2021 was Asia & Oceania with 95% of all worldwide deliveries.
Global shipments of large circular knitting machines grew by +29% to 39,129 units in 2021. The region Asia & Oceania was the world’s leading investor in this category with 83% of worldwide shipments. With 64% of all deliveries (i.e., 21,833 units), China was the favored destination. Turkey and India ranked second and third with 3,500 and 3,171 units, respectively.
