Chinese cotton: Stabilizing production and sales, setting standards
Our reporter Liu Jin
At present, the national cotton is entering the growth stage, and the previous “cotton turmoil” has also quietly faded away. After the hustle and bustle, is Xinjiang cotton okay? Will cotton planting and sales be affected this year? How to fundamentally solve the problem of Chinese cotton being controlled by others? Experts said that stabilizing production and improving quality and establishing self-established standards are the general direction of the future development of China’s cotton industry.
Xinjiang Cotton Farmers’ Intention to Plant Cotton Increases
In March, the China Cotton Association conducted the fourth 2021 national cotton planting intention survey on a total of 2,764 designated farmers across the country.
The survey results show that the national area of cotton planting intentions was 43.675 million mu, a year-on-year decrease of 4.99%, a decrease of 2.0232 million mu compared with the previous survey, an increase of 4.4 percentage points from the previous period. Among them, the area of cotton planting intention by cotton farmers in Xinjiang increased by 0.61% year-on-year, and the growth rate decreased by 0.88 percentage points from the previous period.
In response, Wang Jianhong, vice president and secretary-general of the China Cotton Association, said in an interview with reporters that in terms of planting area, the country has declined, but Xinjiang has maintained growth. Under the guarantee of the cotton target price subsidy system, Xinjiang cotton farmers’ enthusiasm for planting cotton and production progress have not been greatly affected.
According to data from the China Cotton Association, in 2020 China will produce 5,923,700 tons of cotton, import 2.35 million tons, export 30,000 tons, and consume 8.1 million tons. In recent years, Xinjiang’s cotton planting area has continued to increase, and it has become the most important producing area of cotton in China. Xinjiang’s cotton output will reach 5.161 million tons in 2020, accounting for 87% of the country’s cotton output.
Not only is the total output ranked first in the country, Xinjiang’s cotton yield is also the leader, with 137.5 kg/mu in 2020, which is 10.6% higher than the national average. The reporter noted that in most cotton producing areas in Xinjiang, mechanized and intelligent operations can be achieved throughout the entire process, from leveling the ground, precision seeding, drone spraying, to high-efficiency water-saving irrigation, and cotton harvesting.
Lu Jianchun of the 131st Regiment of the 7th Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps contracted 1,000 mu of land to grow cotton four years ago. This cotton field in Kuitun City, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, without natural disasters and abnormal weather, can bring him an income of 500,000 to 800,000 yuan per year.
“The state has subsidies, insurance can also share the risk, and the income from planting cotton is still acceptable. After the contract expires next year, if the adjusted rent is within an acceptable range, I will continue to contract.” Lu Jianchun said, the forecast for 2020 The supplementary subsidy has been obtained and is currently waiting for the liquidation subsidy.
Lv Jianchun said that the whole process of planting, spraying, plowing, and picking of cotton fields under contract has been mechanized. “In the past two months of manual harvesting of 1,000 mu of land, now the machine harvesting is completed in 3 days, which is very convenient.”
Statistics show that as of the end of February 2021, the machine harvest rate of Xinjiang cotton has reached 80.07%, of which 71.22% in the autonomous region and 94.93% in the Corps.
Sales of cotton and its products are booming
“The price of cotton has gone up recently.” Liu Yi, the director of the processing plant of Xinjiang Bazhou Guoxin Cotton Industry Co., Ltd., told reporters that the company has 70,000 acres of cotton fields and an independent ginning plant. Last year, about 16,000 tons of lint were processed, and currently more than 8,000 tons are sold and more than 7,000 tons are in stock.
Liu Yi said that the current sales channels are very smooth, and he is not worried about sales issues. The main thing is to look at the market.
“Last year, Xinjiang opened a new batch of ginning factories and production lines, and the supply of seed cotton was in short supply.” Wang Jianhong said.
Terminal brands also strongly support Xinjiang Cotton. The domestic brand Li Ning has always written the use of Xinjiang cotton on the label-“The fabric is made of Xinjiang high-quality long-staple cotton, combined with a unique weaving process, to give the fabric excellent performance.”
On the e-commerce platform, Xinjiang cotton and cotton products are also sought after by consumers. Signs such as Xinjiang direct hair and Xinjiang products have been marked in the most conspicuous position. Xinjiang quilt and Xinjiang quilt are the main categories. According to preliminary statistics, the sales volume of nearly 20 businesses has exceeded 100,000.
“The quilts are selling well. We temporarily added 4 staff to pack and deliver express delivery.” According to Yang Guangyun, the store manager of Zhongwang Textile Co., Ltd. in Yuli County, Xinjiang, the daily online sales of the store are more than 400 orders.
Chinese cotton and cotton products are not only supplied to the domestic market, but also to the world market. In the first quarter of this year, my country’s exports of textiles and clothing increased by approximately 44% year-on-year.
Release of production management standards
The production side is in full swing, and the sellers are going all out. There is no shortage of orders for China’s cotton. However, the lack of standards and passive restraint cannot be ignored.
“As soon as the news of the Swiss Better Cotton Development Institute (BCI) suspended the certification of Xinjiang cotton in March 2019, we realized that China must establish its own sustainable standard system for the cotton industry and cannot be restricted by foreign standards.” Wang Jianhong said , China Cotton Association decided to build its own cotton sustainable development project on the basis of the original “Chinese cotton” quality certification work, and formulate its own sustainable cotton production standards.
It is understood that there is no universal international cotton production standard in the world, but some countries have their own cotton production standards.
Wang Jianhong introduced that there are two major differences between the “China Cotton” sustainable production standard and other standards: on the one hand, it can improve China’s cotton production level, and on the other hand, it can improve the quality of China’s cotton and provide downstream textile companies with better raw materials.
At present, Xinjiang cotton still has problems such as multiple varieties, unmatched planting management, and excess processing capacity, which have a certain impact on quality. On April 30th, the China Cotton Association officially released the “Chinese Cotton” Production Management Regulations. The purpose is to work with outstanding cotton-related brand enterprises to jointly create “Chinese Cotton” quality domestic products through standardized management of the production side, so that more people can understand China cotton.
Wang Jianhong said that the specification itself is part of the “China Cotton” sustainable development project, and is the part of the “China Cotton” sustainable production management system regarding seed cotton production standards. Next, the association will continue to formulate and publish a series of standards and specifications. Through the “China Cotton” sustainable development project, China has established its own cotton production, certification, and brand management system, improved the level of sustainable cotton production, promoted the modern transformation of my country’s cotton industry and promoted domestic cotton consumption.
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