Industrial Market
There have been claims that Korea’s textile industry needs to reorganize its industrial structure by promoting the high-value-added market, such as high performance textiles and fabrics for high-tech industry.
According to a report called “Comparative Analysis of International Competitiveness in the Textile Industry of Korea, China, and Japan and Its Policy Proposals” released by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), the technological level in the textile industry of Japan in 2020 will stand at 100 percent, while the figures of Korea and Japan will be at 85 percent and 75 percent, respectively.
Korea’s fabric technology level has increased from 75 percent in 2010 to 79 percent in 2015. Also, the figure will slightly improve to 85 percent in 2020, according to the report. China has steadily seen the technological growth in the fabric industry as well, from 55 percent in 2010 to 65 percent in 2015 and 75 percent in 2020.
Accordingly, the technical gap between Korea and China will be halved in a decade, from 20 percent in 2010 to 10 percent in 2020. The figure between Japan and Korea will also decrease from 25 percent in 2010 to 15 percent in 2020.
On the other hand, China’s share of the global textile market as of 2013 was 37.9 percent, while the figures of Korea and Japan stood at 2.2 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Korea saw a decrease in global market share from 2.7 percent in 2007 to 2.2 percent in 2013, while Japan was also on the decrease from 1.7 percent in 2007 to 1.2 percent in 2013.
The KERI said, “As China has expanded exports of low-end products, the market share of Korea, which has competitiveness in exporting low priced products, is going down.”
This is why more and more industry sources say that Korea should reorganize its fabric industry structure focusing on high performance and differentiated products.
Japan is expanding investment in the development of higher-value-added industrial textiles, like high performance and functional textiles and nanofibers, which are in high demand. Also, China is reorganizing the industrial structure focusing on higher value-added products, and is industrializing textiles for high-tech industry.
In contrast, Korea has low competitiveness, since it has a high percentage of clothing in production, and most of them are being supplied to the domestic market with middle and high prices, while those for export are low and middle-priced products.