At present, Asia-Pacific is the largest global producer and consumer for sewing machines. DIY (Do it yourself) culture has regained popularity in recent years. Home crafts, such as knitting and sewing, are now widely recognized and used as a medium for enabling people to make their clothes more personalized. Sewing is now not as difficult and is less time consuming than it was considered to be previously. Electronic sewing machines have facilitated this process by enabling amateur tailors to take advantage of modern features and automatic intricate embroidering styles. In addition, electronic sewing machines are now relatively affordable, even for those households with modest incomes.
The growth in small and medium businesses involved in the tailoring of designer clothes and apparel, and the production of environmentally friendly clothes etc, bypassing mass production processes and generates demand for the use of non-industrial sewing machines.
Household sewing machine consumption is set to increase, against the development of small-scale clothing businesses and an interest in sewing as a hobby, or leisure activity.
The household sewing machine market is projected to continue an upward consumption trend with a CAGR of +1.4%, which will lead the market volume to 30 million units by 2025. However, the global household sewing machine market showed steady growth until it contracted slightly from 2015-2016, finally amounting to 27 million units in 2016. Over the period from 2007 to 2016, the market increased by 25%, expanding with a CAGR of +2.5%. In value terms, it stood at $1.9 billion in the wholesale prices, fluctuating mildly over the last four years. Recently IndexBox, a leading AI-based market research publisher in the world, revealed this in a new report titled “World: Household Sewing Machines – Market Report. Analysis and Forecast to 2025″.
The production of household sewing machines
The production of household sewing machines in China has slightly decreased, while production in India, Vietnam, and Thailand continues to grow, said the report. From 2007 to 2016, the global household sewing machine production showed steady growth, expanding from 22.6M units in 2007 to 28.3M units in 2016, with a CAGR of +2.6%.
China was the key world household sewing machines producing country with an output of about 17M units in 2016, which accounted for 60% of total output. The other major producers were India (17%), Vietnam (12%) and Thailand (6%).
According to the report, China continues to dominate production, but its leadership weakened over the recent years, surrendering to the rapidly developing manufacturing in Vietnam, Thailand, and India. Labor cost in China is on the rise; therefore, its competitive advantage against the other Asian countries is waning. From 2014 to 2016, household sewing machines output in Thailand (+16%), India (+8%) and Vietnam (+6%) increased, while in China it shrunk by -3%. European production has almost dwindled to a minimum over the past ten-year period, as sewing machine manufacture was relocated to Asian countries.
Worldwide household sewing machines’ supply
China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand and Germany account for approximately 83% of global exports of household sewing machines’.
In 2016, global exports of household sewing machines totaled approximately 16.8M units. In value terms, global exports stood at around $1.1B in 2016, a decline of 3% against the 2015 figure.
In 2016, China (7,809K units) was the main global supplier of household sewing machines in the world, with a share of 46% of global exports. It was followed by Vietnam (2,647K units), Taiwan (1,709K units), Thailand (1,137K units) and Germany (712K units), with a combined share of 83% of global exports.
Among the main exporters, Vietnam illustrated a significant rate of growth with regard to exports. From 2007 to 2016, Thailand (+6.1%) and Germany (+7.2%) showed a positive dynamic, while China showed a negative dynamic (-1.8%) during the period under review.
The main consumer is USA and Germany
In physical terms, total imports of household sewing machines stood at 15.5M units in 2016. In value terms, imports amounted to approx. $1.2B, with an average annual rate of growth of +2.2% from 2007 to 2016.
The report revealed that the U.S. (2,484K units) and Germany (2,205K units) were the main consumers of household sewing machine imports, with a combined share of 31% of total global imports in 2016. The fastest growing consumer was Germany (+15.7% per year) from 2007 to 2016. By contrast, the U.S. illustrated a stagnant rate of growth during the period under review. Germany significantly strengthened its position in the global import structure (+10 percentage points), while the U.S. saw its share reduced (-6 percentage points).
