The status of Taiwan weaving industry
In the weaving industry, yarns pass through the weaving process to form cloths, which can be classified into knitted cloth, woven cloth and technical cloth. The main competitive advantage of Taiwan’s weaving industry includes developing products in small quantities, diversity and differentiation. In 2017, facing uncertainties in the global consumer market, and affected by the continuous transfer of production bases by Taiwanese companies to Southeast Asia, Taiwan’s cloth exports grew slightly by 1.13% from 2016, amounting to US$6.815 billion. In 2017, Taiwan’s cloth exports are divided into woven cloth, knitted cloth and technical cloths (such as dipping-coating cloth, towel terry, non-woven cloth and others): (1) Knitted cloths constituted 35% of total exports, with an export value of US$2.413 billion. (2) Woven cloths accounted for 30% of total exports, with an export value of US$2.04 billion. (3) Technical cloths formed 35% of total exports, with an export value of US$2.362 billion.
In 2017, Taiwan’s weaving industry faced the following challenges: (1) The significant appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar affected profitability after foreign exchange; (2) Brand customers’ procurement demand for products with short delivery time, products in small quantities, and diversified products continue to increase; (3) Labor shortage at grass-roots level continue to exist; (4) Upstream and downstream supply chains are gradually disintegrating, indicating that the industry is rapidly losing its advantage; (5) Production capacities and technical talents of Taiwanese cloth manufacturers are moving to Vietnam.
Taiwan’s functional cloth have always gained an advantage over its competitors with its ability to develop high-quality, diversified and differentiated products. In the future, the weaving industry will encounter many of the challenges above. The possible strategies to overcome these challenges include:
(1) moving toward the development of “Smart Manufacturing” and “Digital Plant”; (2) expanding the application range of functional cloths and gradually progressing toward the development of industrial functional apparel; (3) developing smart cloth materials.
In addition, Taiwan’s weaving industry undertake orders from customers who adopt procurement strategies involving the purchase of products in small quantities and with short delivery time, in order to reduce inventory risk. The regional supply chain for textiles and apparel formed by various Asian countries is getting more and more complete. Coupled with the New Southbound Policy and the purchasing trends of international buyers, Taiwan’s cloth manufacturers are gradually expanding into Southeast Asian countries, with Vietnam as the main venue for the textile cluster, and the major overseas location which Taiwanese cloth manufacturers are expanding into.
台灣織布產業發展現況
織布業是將紗線經過織造工段而成布，可分為梭織布料、針織布料與特種布3類。台灣織布業的主要競爭優勢為具有開發少量、多樣、差異化產品之優勢，2017年面臨全球消費市場不確定性，且受到台商生產基地持續轉至東協國家的影響，台灣織布產業出口表現僅較2016年微幅成長1.13%，達68.15億美元。2017年台灣布類出口依布種分為梭織、針織及特種布（如浸漬塗敷加工布、毛巾布、不織布及其他織物等）三種：（1）針織布佔布類總出口量之35%，出口值達24.13億美元。（2）梭織布佔布類出口量之30%，出口值20.40億美元。（3）特種布佔布類出口值之35%，出口值量為23.62億美元。
2017年台灣織布產業面臨的挑戰包括：（1）新台幣大幅升值影響換匯後的獲利表現；（2）品牌客戶對短交期、少量多樣化的採購需求持續提高；（3）基層勞動力不足問題仍在；（4）上下游供應鏈逐漸崩解，快速反應優勢漸失；(5)台灣織布廠產能及技術人才往越南移動。
台灣的機能性紡織品一向以品質佳、具備多樣性及差異化產品開發能力贏得優勢，未來織布業面對上述諸多挑戰，可能因應策略包括：
（1）朝向「智慧製造」及「數位化工廠」發展；（2）擴大機能性布料的應用範疇，逐步往產業用機能服飾發展；（3）發展智慧紡織材料。
另外，台灣織布業承接訂單的客戶多採用少量、短交期的採購策略，以降低存貨風險。亞洲各國形成的區域性紡織品和成衣供應鏈更加完整，加上新南向政策與國際買主的購買趨勢，台灣梭織布業者逐漸至東南亞等東協國家佈局，以越南為紡織群聚主要地點，是台灣織布廠商於海外的拓展重鎮。