ZÜRICH, Switzerland — June 20, 2025 — In 2024, global shipments of new short-staple spindles and open-end rotors decreased by 40 percent and 39 percent, respectively (year-on-year). Deliveries of long-staple spindles increased by 62 percent. The number of draw-texturing spindles improved by 77 percent and shipped shuttle-less looms grew by 32 percent. Shipments of large circular knitting machines deteriorated by 15 percent and shipped flat knitting machines registered a 16 percent increase. The sum of all deliveries in the finishing segment slightly rose by 6 percent.
These are the main results of the 47th annual International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) just released by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF). The report covers six segments of textile machinery, namely spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large circular knitting, flat knitting, and finishing. A summary of the findings for each category is presented below. The 2024 survey has been compiled in cooperation with more than 200 textile machinery manufacturers representing a comprehensive measure of world production.
Spinning Machinery
The total number of shipped short-staple spindles decreased by 3.8 million units in 2024 to a level of 5.92 million. Most of the new shipments went to Asia & Oceania (90 percent) where deliveries decreased by 36 percent compared to 2023. Shipment to Africa, Europe (incl. Türkiye), North and Central America decreased by 64 percent, 56 percent, and 90 percent, respectively. Deliveries only increased for destinations in South America (1.7 percent to 82.6 thousand) and Easter Europe (12 percent to 10.5 thousand). The six largest investors in the short-staple segment were China, India, Türkiye, Bangladesh, Egypt, and Indonesia.
Some 623,000 open-end rotors were shipped worldwide in 2024. This represents about 390,000 units less than recorded in 2023. 89 percent of global shipments went to Asia & Oceania where deliveries decreased by 35 percent to 557,000. China, India, and Türkiye were the world’s 3 largest investors in rotors but saw investments drop by 32 percent, 57 percent and 56 percent, respectively. Deliveries decreased in all major destination countries except for Vietnam and Bangladesh, the 4th and 6th largest destinations in 2024, where shipment rose by 214 percent and 44 percent compared to 2023.
Global shipments of long-staple (wool) spindles increased to 600,000 units in 2024 (60 percent). This positive effect was driven by a rise in deliveries to Asia and Oceania and Eastern Europe where 138,000 and 15,000 units were shipped, respectively. 40 percent of total deliveries were shipped to Iran, 30 percent to China, and 13 percent to Vietnam.
Texturing Machinery
Global shipments of single heater draw-texturing spindles (mainly used for polyamide filaments) increased by 95 percent from nearly 43,000 units in 2023 to 84,000 units in 2024. With a share of 98.5 percent, Asia & Oceania remained the strongest destination for single heater draw-texturing spindles in 2024. China, Vietnam, and India were the three main investors in this segment with shares of global deliveries of 95 percent, 1.01 percent, and 0.97 percent, respectively.
In the category of double heater draw-texturing spindles (mainly used for polyester filaments), global shipments increased by 80 percent to a level of 960,000 units. Asia’s share of worldwide shipments increased to 98 percent and China continued to be the world’s largest investor, accounting for 95 percent of global shipments.
Weaving Machinery
In 2024, global shipments of shuttle-less looms increased by 32 percent to 226,000 units. Deliveries in the categories “air-jet” and “water-jet” grew by 10 percent and 56 percent to 58,000 and 143,000 looms, respectively. The number of “rapier and projectile” looms dropped by 7 percent to 25,000 units. The main destination for shuttle-less looms was Asia & Oceania with 97 percent of worldwide deliveries. 97 percent, 87 percent, and 99 percent of global air-jet, rapier/projectile, and water-jet looms were shipped to the region, respectively. The main investor in all loom categories was China where shipment grew by 30 percent (air-jet), 38 percent (rapier and projectile) and 63 percent (water-jet).
Circular & Flat Knitting Machinery
Global shipments of large circular knitting machines decreased by 15 percent to 28,000 units in 2024. Asia & Oceania was the world’s leading investor in this category with 81 percent of global shipments. China was the favored destination with 45 percent of all deliveries (10,786 units), a decrease of 42 percent compared to 2023. India and Vietnam ranked second and third destinations with 3,899 and 2,559 shipped units, respectively.
The number of shipped electronic flat knitting machines increased by 16 percent to 135,000 machines in 2024. The growth was driven by Asia & Oceania which received 96 percent of world shipments. Deliveries to all other regions decreased. China remained the world’s largest investor with an 82-percent-share of total shipments.
Finishing Machinery
In the “fabrics continuous” segment, the number of shipped tenters increased by 22 percent from 1,833 units in 2023 to 2,230 units in 2024. This number includes an estimate for the total number of tenters shipped by companies which have not participated to the ITMF survey. Participating companies reported mixed results for all other machines in this category (between a decrease of 53 percent for Dyeing – Line, CPB and an increase of 390 percent for Dyeing – Line, Hotflue). In the “fabrics discontinuous” segment, the number of “jigger dyeing/beam dyeing” shipped in 2024 dropped by 44 percent to 371 units. Deliveries of “air jet dyeing” and “overflow dyeing” rose by 18 percent to 907 units and 5 percent to 2,221 units, respectively.
Posted: June 20, 2025
Source: International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF)
