(Yicai Global) Jan. 11 -- China's Shenzhou International Group Holdings, the world's largest knitwear producer, has resumed production in its home town after a one-week pause due to the eastern city's Covid-19 outbreak.

The functions of knitting, dyeing, printing, and finishing, as well as accessories, and shoe fabrics, have restarted, the Ningbo-headquartered firm said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday. But some parts of garment production are still suspended.

The ghost of the halt was hanging over the company's shares. Shenzhou's stock price [HKG: 2313] slid as much as 3.2 percent to CNY139.7 (USD21.90) intraday. The shares are more than 7 percent down over the past 12 months.

The production halt is likely to cut the plant's ready-made clothes output by 17 million units, or three percent of Shenzhou's annual capacity, and may therefore delay the orders of Nike, Adidas, Puma, and other international clients, Tianfeng Securities predicted in a report.

Shenzhou, known as the "Foxconn of the textile industry," counts some of the world's biggest sporting goods makers as its clients. In recent years, even domestic firms such as Anta Sports Products, Li-Ning, and Xtep International Holdings have joined the group.

The Ningbo base manufactures as much as 40 percent of Shenzhou's total ready-made clothes worldwide, according to public data. An area that makes up half of the factory's total capacity was at some point sealed off due to epidemic prevention.

The textile giant said in a bourse filing on Jan. 3 that part of Shenzhou's production facilities are located in the local government's compulsory epidemic containment area. Consequently, the firm's stock price slumped 10 percent to a 12-month low that day.

Shenzhou has other factories. The firm has a production base in Anhui province's Anqing, as well as in Vietnam and Cambodia. The overseas operations are recovering after earlier suspensions due to local outbreaks.

Editor: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi