In 1995, China had about 54,000 textile and clothing factories, of which more than 90% were small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They are organised either by the China National Council of Textile Industry (which is being restructured into the State Textile Industry Bureau) or by the local textile industry co-operatives (state-run organisations) at both municipal and provincial levels. China's textile industry is mainly based on both natural fibres, such as cotton, wool, jute, mulberry worm silk, hair, etc., and synthetic fibres. Some 80% of the fibre used is cotton, so cotton China's textile manufacturing and employment.
In general, the employee number of SMEs falls into a range of 100 to 2000. In 1995, the whole industry employed 12.43 million employees and the total value of output was 703.5 billion yuan RMB.
China is the world's largest producer of cotton clothing, and the second largest producer of synthetic fibres. China is therefore one of the most important producers and exporters of clothing and textiles in the world.
Technical and Equipment Level.
The technology and techniques used in China's textile industry are, for most SMEs, at the level of the Europe-American textile industries in the 1970s' and 1980s'. Energy consumption per unit of production is 1-2 times of that of the developed countries, and the average production efficiency is only 1/3 to 1/8 of the level of these countries. Most SMEs upgrade their equipment every 5 to 10 years.
In SMEs, the technicians and technical workers account for 2%-5% and 30%-50% respectively of the total employees. The technicians are mainly in the positions of technical management and process monitoring, the task of the technical workers is to operate and maintain production equipment. In order to survive in today's intensive market competition, the textile enterprises are paying more attention to the technical training of their workers and are showing great interest in new technology research & development.