China's cotton textile sector will face hard time in 2013

22 Mar '13

1 min read

The situation for China’s cotton textile industry may not improve in the remaining months of the current year.

In early March, the price of imported cotton at China’s main ports was about 15,000 yuan/ton, while domestic price was about 20,000 yuan/ton. The price gap of about 5,000 yuan/ton is making downstream cotton textile enterprises to withstand international competition.

Moreover, the labour costs in China have reached 2,800 yuan per month, compared to costs of about US$ 60-100 per month in Vietnam and India. The cost of labour is expected to rise further in China this year.

The situation has led farmers to switch from cotton production to growing grains this year. The cotton sowing area is likely to decline by about six percent or 4.272 million Mu (1 hectare = 15 Mu) to 67.515 million Mu, according to the survey by National Cotton Market Monitoring System.

In 2012 too, China’s cotton planting area decreased by 340,000 hectares from the previous year to about 4.7 million hectares.

In the current scenario, cotton textile enterprises in China can survive only by branding their products and switching to production of high-value items.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - China

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