China's silk market has been in the doldrums in recent years. According to statistics from the Chinese Silk Association, more than 85 percent of the big scale silk manufacturing companies have been losing money since the last 3 years.
The situation was even grimmer in January to May this year, as it showed an industry-wide loss state. Silk spinning is a small industry and annual production of spun silk is around 30,000 tons.
At present, silk spinning enterprises are mainly distributed in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning, Sichuan, Chongqing, Henan and Yunnan with the output from Zhejiang accounting for about 70 percent of national output.
80 percent of silk sales are mainly based on exports and the economic crisis has had a deep impact on silk exports from the country. Many of the silk enterprises have closed down since the last few months.
Raw material price of silk spinning enterprises increased by 15 percent, May onwards, with no corresponding increase in finished goods prices, leading to an "upside down" phenomenon for silk product prices.