China's knitting industry after nearly a hundred years of development, especially the rapid development of nearly two decades, has become one of the important industries of the textile industry, and in the process of the development of the socialist market economy, led and promoted the development of China's knitting machinery industry. Compared with before the reform and opening up, China's knitting machinery industry has developed on a certain scale. All knitting machinery products include circular machines, flat knitting machines, warp knitting machines and other series of products, which are produced in our country. Since 2021, the overall performance of the three types of knitting machinery market is good, but the pressure of smooth operation still exists.

Automation and intelligence will be the overall development trend of the textile machinery industry. With the rapid development of science and technology, the traditional textile industry has gradually changed from labor-intensive to intelligent manufacturing. Countries around the world have introduced development strategies in the field of intelligent textile industry, such as the "Intelligent Textile Plan" of the United States and the "Future Textile Project" of Germany. Wait, China has also launched the "Thirteenth Five-Year Development Plan for the Textile Industry", taking the promotion of textile intelligent manufacturing as an important research direction.

China's textile industry for intelligent manufacturing technology, the Chinese Academy of Engineering will be divided into a new model of intelligent manufacturing, intelligent textile equipment and common technology and standards, intelligent textile materials three areas, and chemical fiber manufacturing intelligent workshop (factory), textile processing intelligent workshop (factory) (including spinning, weaving, knitting, non-woven), dyeing and finishing intelligent workshop (factory), clothing design and processing intelligent, textile personalized customization and network collaborative manufacturing and equipment remote operation and maintenance, typical intelligent textile equipment, textile intelligent manufacturing standards and common technology, intelligent textile materials, the basic paradigm of intelligent manufacturing in the field of textile industry is put forward, that is, the intelligent manufacturing system of textile industry based on HCPS (human-information-physical system) and the digital control system of textile industry based on industrial big data.

The "14th Five-Year Development Outline of the Textile Industry" pointed out that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, we must continue to promote the deep integration of a new generation of information technology and the textile industry, and accelerate the digital transformation of the industry. With the goal of greatly improving production efficiency and the level of refinement, flexibility and intelligence of production methods, based on information technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence and digital twins, and focusing on the research and development of complete sets of textile equipment, we will accelerate the development of intelligent manufacturing system integrators in the textile field, promote collaborative innovation of equipment, software and information technology, and implement key intelligent manufacturing projects in the textile industry based on the digitization of textile equipment and information interconnection.

In the domestic market, China's knitting machinery is mainly private enterprises, knitting machinery industry is mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, there is a serious homogenization of low-end products, enterprise profit space compression, excessive competition between enterprises. At present, most of the knitting machinery enterprises are concentrated in the areas and markets where the knitting industry is relatively developed. For example, the production enterprises of hosiery machines and flat knitting machines are concentrated in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, especially in Changshu, Wuxi, Zhangjiagang, Hangzhou and Shaoxing.

In the international market, the R & D and production of textile machinery are mainly concentrated in Europe and Asia. Europe is mainly dominated by Germany, Italy, Switzerland and other countries, and Asia is mainly dominated by China and Japan. From the technical level, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland and other countries as the traditional power of textile machinery research, not only have more advanced technology, but also Japan Shimao (ShimaSeiki), Germany Stoll (Stoll) and Italy Ronaldi (Lonati) and other international well-known established manufacturers. With the rapid improvement of China's equipment manufacturing level, China occupies an increasingly important position in the manufacturing and sales of global textile machinery.

With the continuous development of economic globalization, the world's economic ties are getting closer and closer, the textile machinery industry has also shown a trend of international integration, and the technical level of textile machinery production in various countries is constantly approaching. However, due to the differences in production factors, industrial base, consumer market and many other factors in various countries, textile machinery products in various countries also show different advantages. In recent years, China's textile machinery with its good performance-to-price ratio, the market competitiveness continues to improve.

Knitting machinery industry is a multidisciplinary industry integrating mechanical design and processing, knitting technology research, electronic control system manufacturing and software development, with obvious technical barriers. Knitting equipment needs a long cycle from design, research and development, prototype manufacturing, testing, product identification, trial production, promotion and identification to mass production. In the process, long-term research and accumulation are needed in parts design, production process research, machinery manufacturing, control system and so on. It is difficult for new enterprises to fully grasp the technology involved in the industry in a short period of time, and the technical threshold is high.

(2) Brand and service barriers

Knitting machinery and equipment on the product reliability, stability and after-sales service requirements are higher, downstream customers generally need to be under the guidance of knitting machinery manufacturers, according to their own process requirements to choose the appropriate model, and in the production process of continuous maintenance and repair, customer viscosity is higher. Brand is the comprehensive embodiment of many factors such as enterprise sales, product quality, maintenance technology, management service and market network. It is difficult for new entrants to establish brands with market influence and meet customer service needs in the short term, so there are high brand and service barriers in the industry.

(3) Talent barriers

Knitting machinery and equipment manufacturing industry is a comprehensive industry, not only need to be familiar with mechanical design, machinery manufacturing, production technology, automation control, surveying and mapping and other professional technical research and development personnel, but also need high-quality compound management, research and development and sales personnel. Only after long-term screening and training, can enterprises have a group of skilled production personnel, qualified technical research and development personnel and sales and after-sales service personnel who are skilled in business and are well versed in market dynamics. New entrants need a long time to excavate, cultivate and accumulate a high-quality and comprehensive professional team, so there are certain talent barriers in the industry.

(4) Capital and scale barriers

Knitting machinery manufacturing industry has higher production and processing quality requirements, enterprises need to invest a lot of money to build factories and purchase advanced production equipment. The research and development cycle of knitting machinery and equipment is long, which requires continuous investment in research and development, and the capital cost of investment in each stage of production is large. The cost of knitting machinery products is relatively high, and the cost of each unit is between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. Scale production requires more operating funds of the enterprise. Some enterprises of knitting machinery can take installment payment to customers to purchase products, and the demand for working capital is more obvious. For new entrants, it is difficult to ensure stable and continuous capital investment and competition with existing enterprises of a certain scale, which constitutes a barrier to capital and scale in the knitting machinery manufacturing industry.

5. Basic risk characteristics of the industry

(1) Cyclical risks in the industry

The textile machinery industry is greatly affected by macroeconomic policies and has a certain periodicity. When the macroeconomic policy is loose, the demand for downstream textiles rises, the capacity of the textile industry expands, the investment increases, and the demand for equipment procurement increases, which drives the development of the textile machinery industry; when the macroeconomic policy tightens, the demand for downstream textiles declines, and the corresponding textile machinery industry as a whole enters the depression period. As a result, there are market risks associated with cyclical fluctuations in the industry.

(2) Seasonal risks in the industry

Industry downstream for socks and clothing processing enterprises. According to different seasons, the market demand for all kinds of knitwear is different. For example, the demand for terry socks and flat socks is relatively hot in summer. Socks processing enterprises need to invest more equipment to increase production to meet the market demand, thus driving the production and sales of socks machines in the industry. As a result, there are market risks associated with seasonal fluctuations in the industry.

(3) Industry competition risk

China's knitting machinery industry has developed well in recent years, but there is still a gap between technology and innovation with internationally renowned established manufacturers. In the domestic market, the knitting machinery industry is mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, there is a serious homogenization of low-end products, corporate profit space compression, excessive competition between enterprises. Companies in the industry are at risk of affecting profitability and industry position due to increased market competition.

(4) Risk of raw material price fluctuations

The main raw materials of the industry include knitting machinery accessories, electronic control systems and other electrical components, steel, aluminum, etc., and their prices fluctuate due to various factors such as national industrial policies and market supply and demand changes. If the price of raw materials rises significantly, Product costs rise, and product prices cannot be adjusted in time, which will adversely affect the gross profit margin and operating performance of enterprises in the industry.

For more industry information, please refer to the Puhua Policy Consulting 《Market Research and Development Trend Forecast Report of Knitting Machinery Industry in 2023-2029At the same time, Puhua has policy consulting also provides services such as industrial research report, industrial chain consulting, project feasibility report, post-project evaluation report, 14th Five-Year Plan, BP business plan, industrial map, industrial planning, blue white paper, IPO investment feasibility study, IPO working paper consulting, etc.