The investment climate in the textile industry has improved significantly in the first half of 2010. Markets are reviving across the board. The main reason for this is the especially favourable margin situation for spinning mills, as demand for yarn has grown and yarn prices have risen. At the same time raw material prices – especially for cotton – have not increased to the same extent. Added to this is a backlog of demand for investment in plant replacements and updates: These statements have been released by none other than Rieter, which only a year back, was wilting under the pangs of recession. Orders received by Rieter Textile Systems in the first six months of 2010 increased by 290% to 738.6 million CHF (189.6 million CHF in 2009). The largest volume of orders came from Turkey, India and China. Can there be any other better news than this for the global textile industry?

Oerlikon Group's voice was not far behind this Swiss giant's newly-struck renaissance of interest from the textile industry: Following the worst economic crisis in living memory that also hit the textile industry hard, the market is bouncing back stronger and faster than initially expected. The sector was already detecting a recovery as early as the second quarter of 2009, with orders also improving noticeably for Remscheid-based textile machine builder, Oerlikon Barmag. The future global market for textile and apparel is expected to expand in a significant way. The reasons for such expansion include growth of new consumption markets, global expansion of modern retail business, boom of air and sea shipments, growth of textile and related production in Eastern Europe, ex-Russian block, Turkey, Middle East, South East Asia, India, China and South America. In future, it is going to be a challenging global market full of risks but also full of unbelievable opportunities. Strategic partnership among various interests will become more important than the traditional transactions through vendor relations. No doubt, the precursors from the two giants from the textile machinery industry signal the much-awaited turnaround.