By: Fibre2Fashion.com
One of the best materials for clothing, "Silk" was
discovered in China. No other material can be compared with the look and
feeling of richness of silk. Still the discovery of silk like when, where or
how it was discovered is a mystery for many people. When silk was discovered, China was very fast in terms of technological development, so Chinese people have developed
new ways of using silk to make clothes. Later on Chinese silk was passed to
Europe, Rome, India and many more countries. Roman women were crazy for Chinese
silk as this was a symbol of wealth and high social status. Even nowadays also
silk, in some sense, is some kind of luxury.
Chinese silk has a long-standing history and it also quoted
as a "National Gem of China". The silk industry has maintained trend
for robust development in China. National Bureau of Statistics on the
statistics of more than 2,204 silk enterprises shows that the silk industrial
output value totaled 82.9 billion before 5-6 years.
China has long been reputed as a leading silk producer in the world and its
silk products has exported to other central Asian and European countries for
the past 2,000 years. In China, currently one million workers are employed in
the silk sector and the major silk producing areas are the province of Sichuan, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong.
In the year 1987 Hangzhou city of China is developed as a "China Silk Town". This is the only market in China for silk wholesale covering 25,000
square meters. Currently, it has over 600 silk enterprises, dealing with all
kinds of real silk fabric, clothes, crafts, raw materials and so on. These products are not only sold in China but also exported to countries and regions like EU, US, Hong Kong and South Asia.
In the year 2006, Ministry of
Commerce estimates that annual silk industrial output value is expected to
reach US $31.25 billion in 2010. Ministry released the development target of
silk industry in 2006-2010. It expects silk cocoon production will increase to
850, 00-900,000 tons by 2010. Silk production will reach 170,000-190,000 tons,
an increase of 66.7 percent, as compared with 2005. The Ministry requires
manufacturers to sharpen competitive edge in technological innovation, and
develop sophisticated products, since China's silk export is expected to increase
to US $5.5 billion in 2010. China's raw silk production accounts for 74 percent
of the world's total output, and 90 percent of world exports market. China is the world's largest silk producer. In 2005, China produced 680,000 tons of silk
cocoon and 130,000 tons of silk. In 2000-2005, China's silk output achieved an
average annual growth rate of 14.2 percent.
In early 2008, China's silk industry was in blues due
to rise in production cost. Of the 107 existing silk enterprises in Zhejiang Province, nearly 56 have incurred a loss in the first quarter of this year.
The once resplendent silk industry is facing problems that seem insurmountable.
According to the estimates made by Zhejiang Silk Association some two years
ago, profits of the local silk enterprises could reach a total of 1000 million
Yuan. However, the present situation reflects a different scenario as profits in this s pring season were not even 100 million Yuan.
China is one of the leading suppliers of silk in the world. China exports raw silk to silk made-ups. Following is the data with item wise export and
country wise export from January 2008 to October 2008.
