Research On International Competitiveness Of Textile And Clothing Industry In Yangtze River Economic Belt

As an important leading industry in process of industrialization and the production industry,the textile and clothing industry has always been the focus of governments in most countries.At present,the production,consumption and export volume of Chinese textile and clothing products rank first in the world,the textile and clothing industry plays an important role in increasing domestic employment,accumulating funds,exporting foreign exchange,and promoting economic development.The Yangtze River Economic Zone,especially in the lower reaches of Jiangsu,Zhejiang and Shanghai,is the birthplace of China's modern textile industry,and its textile and clothing industry occupies an important position in China and even in the world.With the implementation of the development strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt,the development of the economic belt textile and clothing industry has ushered in new opportunities.The paper first summarizes the relevant theory of the international competitiveness of the textile and clothing industry,and makes a sum-up about the research content of domestic and foreign textile and clothing industry.Secondly,the paper analyses the development condition of the textile and clothing industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from the aspects of industrial scale,spatial distribution,brand building,clusters construction,foreign trade,etc,and deeply discusses various factors affecting the international competitiveness of the textile and clothing industry based on Porter's "Diamond Model".Thirdly,from an international comparative perspective,the paper selects the revealed comparative advantage index,the index of comparative advantage of net exports,and the trade competition index reflecting comparative advantage,the international market share reflecting the competitive advantage and the export growth rate reflecting potential advantages to compare the international competitiveness of the textile and clothing industry of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the world's major textile nations,clarifying the international statusand development situation of the economic belt textile and clothing industry since the WTO accession.Following that,the paper make a comparative analysis of the regional differences in the competitiveness of the textile and clothing industries in the11 provinces and cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt through constructing a benchmark system on the basis of Porter's “Diamond Model” and Yan Mingjie's“New Diamond Model” from the perspective of regional comparison.Finally,it puts forward some policy suggestions for improving the international competitiveness of the economic belt textile and clothing industry.Research shows that the comparative advantages and potential advantages of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the entire Chinese textile and clothing industry have been weakened since the accession to the WTO,and gradually been catched up by countries in the early stages of industrialization like Vietnam,Bangladesh,Pakistan,India,etc.While its competitive advantage continues to increase,although the rate of increase has slowed in the later period,and it still maintains its leading position in the world.Overall,since the accession to the WTO,the competitiveness of the textile and clothing industry in Yangtze River economic belt and the entire Chinese is enhancing generally,and it is still stronger than the other textile and clothing countries while it declines a little lately.From the present conditon of the Yangtze River Economic Belt11 provinces' s textile and clothing industry,there is a large gap in the competitiveness of textile and clothing industries among 11 provinces and cities,namely the lower reaches is the strongest,followed by the middle reaches,the weakest in the upper reaches,showing the spatial distribution patterns at the upper reaches descending order.