Industrial sourcing · China to Europe

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Buyer guide · Textile & garment

Circular knitting machine from China

A circular knitting machine is bought for one family of fabrics: cylinder diameter, gauge and cam set decide which jersey, rib or fleece it can knit, and a quote that leaves them vague prices a machine you may not be able to use.

Ask about this machine ↗Where the numbers come from

Written and listings checked 30 September 2026. Every figure on this page names its source.

What you are actually comparing.

Two quotes, one machine name

What hides inside the price

Diameter, gauge and feeders

Diameter sets fabric width, gauge sets fineness, feeders set courses per turn. Two machines with one name and different codes knit different cloth at different speeds.

Single or double jersey

A single cylinder knits jersey, pique and fleece. Rib and interlock need a dial as well. Ask which cam sets are included, not which are possible.

Needles, sinkers and cams

Needles and sinkers wear and are bought by the thousand. Ask which needle standard the cylinder takes and whether spares are quoted.

Take-down and winding

Tubular or open-width take-down and the largest roll it winds decide your cutting room work.

Yarn feed and stop motions

Positive feed, elastane attachments and yarn break detectors are often options. Without stop motions a broken end becomes metres of faulty fabric.

Decode the model code.

Many listings encode the core configuration as diameter D, gauge G and feeders F. The code 34D28G84F appeared in one listing we checked: 34 inch cylinder, 28 needles per inch, 84 feeders.

Needles = diameter x 3.1416 x gauge = 34 x 3.1416 x 28 = about 2,991.
Courses per minute = rpm x 84 at whatever speed the factory states.
Feeders per inch of diameter = 84 / 34 = about 2.5. Compare this ratio between quotes of one diameter.

Before you ask for a price.

Send these with the enquiry. Without them, any number a factory gives you is a guess dressed as a quotation.

The fabric you want to knit: structure, weight per square metre and finished width.
Yarn type and count, including any elastane, so the factory can set gauge and feed.
Cylinder diameter, gauge and feeder count, or your finished width so the factory can propose them.
Tubular or open-width fabric, and the roll weight your cutting room handles.
Spare needles, sinkers and cam sets to include, and the power supply at your site.

Turn the claim into a demonstration.

Require this	A pass looks like
Knit your fabric with your yarn for a counted number of rolls at the speed written in the offer.	Weight per square metre and width inside your tolerance on every roll, and the rpm recorded.
Inspect the knitted rolls on a lit inspection table against an agreed defect list.	No vertical lines from damaged needles and no holes from missed stitches above the agreed count per roll.
Break a yarn end on purpose at several feeders during the run.	The machine stops every time before a hole runs, and restarts without a mark.

The documents that must arrive with it.

EU Declaration of Conformity naming the serial number, under 2006/42/EC until 19 January 2027 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 after.
Low voltage 2014/35/EU and EMC 2014/30/EU references for the drive and control.
Manual with cam layout, needle and sinker part numbers, and cylinder guarding.

The one people forget. The parts list with needle and sinker standards. Without it you cannot reorder the consumables the machine eats.

When this is the wrong machine.

Buy something else if

Named, not hedged

You need shaped panels such as sweater fronts, collars or cuffs knitted to size.

A flat knitting machine. A circular machine knits tube or open fabric that must be cut.

You make socks or hosiery.

A sock knitting machine with a small cylinder built for heel and toe.

Where the numbers come from.

We name the kind of source, how many and when, and never the factory. Listed prices are asking prices, not landed cost. Where we do not hold a fact we say so: that is a GAP, not an estimate.

Listings · 31Thirty-one marketplace listings under single jersey circular knitting machine, checked September 2026. Most new full-size machines advertised US$8,000 to US$30,000; computerised jacquard models ran higher. Asking prices, not landed cost.
Listings · 1One used 34D28G84F jacquard machine in the same search, checked September 2026, advertised US$2,000 to US$4,000.
Arithmetic34 x 3.1416 x 28 = about 2,991 needles; 84 / 34 = about 2.5 feeders per inch of diameter.
GAPGAP - no supplier quotations logged for this machine yet. Three to five quotations for one configuration would give a real price spread.

Related machines.

Flat knitting machine. Choose a flat knitter when you need shaped knitwear panels rather than rolls of fabric.
Sock knitting machine. Look at sock knitting machines if your product is socks, not fabric by the roll.

Every machine we source in this area is on the Textile & garment page. How a project runs, stage by stage, is on how it works, and what it costs is on pricing.

Straight answers

Questions buyers ask about this machine.

Chinese vs European circular knitting machine: what is the real difference?+

Needle and cam steel, cylinder accuracy, and how long the machine holds gauge at speed. For fine gauges a used European machine with a known history can be the better buy.

What goes on a circular knitting machine inspection checklist?+

Serial number against the declaration, diameter, gauge and feeders against the offer, cam sets present, stop motions tested, fabric knitted on your yarn.

What CE documentation should a circular knitting machine have?+

A Declaration of Conformity and the technical file behind it. A CE mark on a listing photo proves nothing on its own.

Who is the EU importer when I buy a circular knitter direct?+

Your company, if you place it on the EU market. Your name and address go on the machine or its documents, and you check the conformity file.

Contact

Tell us what you need.

Send a machine, a quotation you want checked, or a question. We reply with what we would look at first.