Editor’s note: In 2021, the cotton textile industry will generally operate steadily, but it will be full of “episodes”. This year, we faced sluggish demand in the downstream market and experienced the joy of the return of overseas orders. We experienced the pressure of “double limits” but firmly moved forward on the road of “double carbon”. This year, we began to establish an independent cotton standard system. This year, we gradually restored profitability. The cotton textile industry, which has entered the era of normalized epidemic prevention and control, has embarked on the train of high-quality development and continues to demonstrate the vitality of technology, fashion, and green industries on the road to stable progress.
BCI boycotts Xinjiang cotton
On March 24, the Swedish clothing brand H&M A statement “Boycott Xinjiang Cotton” caused an uproar. The reason is that the Swiss Better Cotton Development Association (hereinafter referred to as “BCI”) boycotts cotton produced in China’s Xinjiang region on the grounds of so-called “forced labor”, and H&M Group is a member of BCI. In response to this matter, relevant associations and organizations in the textile industry have spoken out and expressed their opposition to any actions that stigmatize Xinjiang cotton.
The “boycotted” Xinjiang cotton has no worries about sales
For 26 consecutive years, my country’s Xinjiang ranks first in the country in total cotton output, yield, planting area, and commodity allocation volume. The situation of “the world’s cotton looks to China, and China’s cotton looks to Xinjiang” has been formed.
At the same time, Xinjiang long-staple cotton is the world’s top quality. It is very precious due to its small quantity and high quality. Because its fiber is soft and long, its fineness and strength are much higher than Ordinary cotton, so its softness is better, especially suitable for spinning high-end products with high yarn count.
Cao Huiqing, president of the Cotton Farmers Branch of the China Cotton Association, said that in Xinjiang, cotton fields are increasingly harvested by machines at a lower cost. Xinjiang is now promoting modular cotton planting and social services. A single phone call can call the cotton picker to provide door-to-door service. Machine harvesting costs 150 yuan per acre, with an average of 50 cents per kilogram. There is no “decent work” issue as pointed out by BCI. The cotton production areas in northern Xinjiang have achieved 100% machine picking, and the machine picking rate in southern Xinjiang has also reached 70%.
Industry experts said that Xinjiang cotton has an excellent reputation among cotton textile enterprises across the country, with outstanding performance in color, strength, length, horse value and other indicators. Worrying about no market, no matter whether there is BCI certification or not, there will be no backlog of cotton in Xinjiang.
For foreign trade companies, in order to cope with the uncertain risks from the international market, a common choice for large textile companies is to transfer the supply chain. Huafu Fashion and Esquel Group have both taken such actions. As early as 2013, Huafu Fashion began to set up subsidiaries in Vietnam and invest in building factories. After being included in the “Entity List” by the United States, Huafu Fashion increased its investment in Vietnam and announced the construction of 500,000 spindles of new yarn projects, thus forming two production bases in Xinjiang and Vietnam. The Xinjiang factory selected Xinjiang cotton as its Raw materials serve Chinese companies; while factories in Vietnam use locally purchased cotton to mainly serve overseas customers.
Promote the high-quality development of cotton
On April 30, the China Cotton Association released “China Cotton” Production Management Standards”, and signed production-end cooperation agreements with six large key enterprises in the industry for the “China Cotton” sustainable development project. At this point, the “China Cotton” Sustainable Development Project (CCSD) was officially launched to promote the high-quality development of China’s cotton industry.
my country launches cotton sustainable development project
Establish China’s independent cotton standard system, It is the only way for China’s cotton to achieve high-quality development.
The relevant person in charge of the China Cotton Association stated that the “China Cotton” sustainable development project has the two major goals of “producing sustainable cotton and promoting sustainable cotton” , establish three major systems of sustainable production, traceability management and brand promotion, and practice the four concepts of “environmentally friendly, respect for labor, high quality, and full traceability”. The “China Cotton” sustainable development project encourages sustainable cotton production methods and encourages enterprises and consumers throughout the textile industry chain to use and purchase more “Chinese Cotton” products. At present, 21 key players and well-known enterprises in the industry have become partners of this project, involving the entire cotton and textile industry chain.
Experts believe that to establish an independent cotton standard system, we must first control the quality from the source and cultivate excellent germplasm that is disease-resistant, high-quality, and high-yielding. It is also necessary to standardize the production process, establish a management system for my country’s cotton production and certification, set standard requirements for cotton growers and cotton processing enterprises, further improve the seed cotton purchase price formation mechanism, and improve the quality of Xinjiang cotton. At the same time, brand system certification must also be done. As the first batch of “Chinese sustainable cotton” enters the circulation and textile links, high-quality cotton can be delivered to consumers through brands and retailers.
China’s cotton standards and rules cannot be established in the short term. Cotton standards are a systematic project, and relevant units have to formulate and publish a series of standards and specifications. China’s cotton industry must work together from top to bottom, build a consultation mechanism, stabilize quantity and improve quality, in order to create a resounding “Chinese Cotton” brand and provide higher-quality raw materials for downstream textile companies.
Guarantee the use of cotton by enterprises
On April 30, the National Development and Reform Commission issued “About 2021″�Announcement on Matters Related to Application for Import Quotas with Preferential Tariff Rates Beyond Cotton Tariff Quotas”, issuing 700,000 tons of cotton import sliding tax quotas. The announcement stated that in order to ensure the cotton needs of textile enterprises, it was decided after research to issue a certain amount of cotton import sliding tax quotas this year.
Issue quotas
Increase the effective supply of domestic cotton
Since the second half of 2020, the market has been looking forward to the announcement and determination of the number of sliding tax quotas. In early April this year, the market even rumored that 2 million tons of sliding tax quotas would be issued. Although the implementation of the 700,000 tons quota fell short of market expectations, it would also help alleviate the pressure on the bonded area’s storage capacity.
Experts said that a large amount of imported cotton will be able to be cleared, which will increase the effective supply of domestic cotton and create supply pressure in the short term. However, this will also have a certain supporting effect on international cotton prices, and the price difference between domestic and foreign cotton markets will continue to narrow. In the future, we need to pay attention to the implementation of the reserve cotton rotation policy and the status of downstream orders.
Many cotton-consuming enterprises reported that relevant agencies have a good grasp of market timing and announced relevant matters involving the sliding of cotton tax quotas on the eve of the May Day holiday. , giving the market enough time to digest and think, and importing cotton in the right amount at the right time can not only improve the supply structure of the domestic cotton market, but also ensure and meet the demands of cotton-using enterprises at all levels of the market, which is conducive to the long-term and stable development of the domestic cotton industry.
Investment in new projects
In July, Blum Oriental Co., Ltd. (hereinafter (referred to as “Blum Oriental”) announced that the company plans to raise no more than 1 billion yuan in additional capital for the expansion of Blum (Vietnam)’s 390,000 spindle yarn project. In August, Anhui Wuhu Fuchun Dyeing and Weaving Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Fuchun Dyeing and Weaving”) announced that it planned to build a 500,000-spindle intelligent precision spinning project. In December, Tianhong Textile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Tianhong Textile”) announced that it would spend 228 million yuan to rent land to expand yarn production capacity in Vietnam.
Leading companies are actively planning for the future
This year, the epidemic situation at home and abroad has gradually eased. Textile and apparel trade has gradually returned to normal. Domestic spinning companies may improve the industrial chain to increase production capacity, or invest in new foreign projects to strengthen their global competitiveness.
The price of cotton yarn has been rising in the first half of this year, and Fuchun dyeing and weaving needs to purchase a large amount of cotton yarn from Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and other countries. In order to ensure upstream supply, Fuchun Dyeing and Weaving has improved the industrial chain and entered the upstream yarn industry. The person in charge of the company said that after the project is completed, the yarn products produced will have good strength, abrasion resistance, gloss and drape, and are ideal yarns required for high-end fabrics. It can effectively reduce costs while ensuring supply.
Currently, the Xuzhou Tianhong high-end textile fabrics R&D and production project is under construction. The total investment in the project is about 10.5 billion yuan, with a new 300,000-spindle cotton spinning production line and 50 new cotton spinning production lines. Knitting dyeing production lines, 25 woven dyeing production lines, 30 loose fiber dyeing production lines, purchasing 10,000 looms and 200 eddy current textile machines. The project is expected to be completed and put into production in 2025, and is expected to achieve sales revenue of 15 billion yuan. , profits and taxes of 900 million yuan. At the same time, Tianhong Textile plans to build a large-scale production base in Vietnam to manufacture yarn to expand its production capacity in Vietnam.
Industry insiders believe that as the epidemic situation in Vietnam gradually improves, economic activities return to normal, factories resume work, and production capacity recovers rapidly, the annual output of Chinese textile companies in Vietnam is expected to increase Return to growth. Based on this, textile companies are actively investing in expanding yarn production in Vietnam to actively plan for future overseas market expansion.
Announcement of carbon neutral vision
On April 22, Suzhou Zhenlun Cotton Spinning Co., Ltd. stated: “Zhenlun will strive to launch zero-carbon yarn in 2021, achieve carbon peak before 2028, and achieve carbon neutrality in 2050.” On October 10, Weiqiao Textile Co., Ltd. released its corporate climate Innovation 30·60 Carbon Neutrality Acceleration Vision: Strive to achieve carbon peak in 2023 and achieve carbon neutrality within its own operations before 2049.
Spinning companies implement the “dual carbon” strategy
Looking back on 2021, “Carbon peak” and “carbon neutrality” are definitely one of the hot words in the textile industry. Spinning companies also responded to the “double carbon” strategy with practical actions.
According to reports, the zero-carbon yarn developed by Zhenlun Cotton Spinning is introduced from zero-carbon fiber raw materials that follow the strict guidelines of the world’s leading carbon neutrality agreement. Basically, by utilizing clean energy and energy conservation and emission reduction, we produce carbon-neutral products that comply with relevant certifications. This year, Zhenlun Cotton Spinning introduced zero-carbon fiber raw materials and mass-produced them to the market. This not only set an example for the global spinning industry to fully fulfill its social responsibilities, but also made a positive contribution to promoting the green and sustainable development of the global textile industry chain. At present, about 60% of Zhenlun Cotton Spinning’s production capacity is used to produce a series of green and environmentally friendly products such as recycled viscose yarn, and a complete traceability system has been established to form an industrial system for green, low-carbon and circular development to meet the needs of the global textile industry. Low carbon trend.
Currently, Weiqiao Textile has launched a full life cycle assessment of products, strengthened technical collaboration with value chain partners, and jointly developed sustainable materials with green, low-carbon cycles , reduce the carbon footprint output of products, and strive to reduce product carbon footprint by 50% in 2028, and achieve 100% zero-carbon textile products in 2046. Zhang Yanhong, Vice Chairman of Weiqiao Textile Co., Ltd., said that achieving carbon neutrality is an important goal for the high-quality development of Weiqiao Textile. Since June this year, Weiqiao Textile has carried out a series of work around the “double carbon” goal, including Weiqiao Textile Carbon footprint evaluation of Qiao Textile 60-count compact combed cotton yarn and Weiqiao Textile-Luolai Home Textiles all-cotton home textile four-piece set. In the future, Weiqiao Textile will contribute more to promoting the low-carbon development of China’s industries.
�Achieve 100% zero-carbon textile products by 2046. Zhang Yanhong, Vice Chairman of Weiqiao Textile Co., Ltd., said that achieving carbon neutrality is an important goal for the high-quality development of Weiqiao Textile. Since June this year, Weiqiao Textile has carried out a series of work around the “double carbon” goal, including Weiqiao Textile Carbon footprint evaluation of Qiao Textile 60-count compact combed cotton yarn and Weiqiao Textile-Luolai Home Textiles all-cotton home textile four-piece set. In the future, Weiqiao Textile will contribute more to promoting the low-carbon development of China’s industries.
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