China remained the world’s largest investor for flat knitting machines throughout the year 2015 driven by increased demand. The shipment of electronic flat knitting machines grew by a huge 52 percent to 35,000 units from 19,000 units in 2014.

However, the latest statistics from the International Textile Machinery Shipment Statistics (ITMSS) just released by the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF) also showed that shipments for new large diameter circular knitting machines dipped by 6% year-on-year to 26,700 units in 2015.

Asia remained the leading investor by region for circular knitting machines with 88% of all orders shipping to the region in 2015. With 53% of worldwide deliveries China, was the single largest investor with India and Bangladesh ranking second and third with 6,500 and 3,100 units, respectively.

Total sales of electronic machines amounted to 70,100 units, the highest level since 2011. Not surprisingly, Asia received the highest share of shipments with 93% of purchases.

Elsewhere deliveries of new short-staple spindles plunged by nearly 8% from 2014 to 2015 while long-staple spindles and open-end rotors decreased by 61% and 6%, respectively. In contrast, deliveries of shuttle-less looms increased by 14%.

The report covers six segments of textile machinery, namely spinning, draw-texturing, weaving, large circular knitting, flat knitting and finishing. The 2015 survey has been compiled in cooperation with over 140 textile machinery manufacturers, representing a comprehensive measure of world production.