Brief overview of cotton yarn imports across the country

From January to early February 2015, domestic cotton prices showed a weak downward trend. In late February, domestic cotton prices showed signs of rising, and the market is bullish in the coming months. On February 28, the domestic cotton price was 13,449 yuan/ton. As of February 26, the price difference between domestic and foreign cotton prices within tariffs was 2,185 yuan/ton. The price of cotton with discount and quasi-tax has now exceeded the domestic cotton price.
According to Chinese customs statistics, in January, my country’s yarn imports were US$820 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.6%, of which cotton yarn imports were the main import, with an import value of US$620 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.5%, accounting for 28.6% of the country’s total textile and apparel imports.
1. In January 2015, my country’s cotton yarn imports increased, and the import unit price continued to decline.
Different from the slight decline in imports in the same period last year, in the first month of this year, China imported 218,000 tons of cotton yarn, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%. With the decline in international cotton prices, the unit price of cotton yarn imports continued the downward trend in the second half of last year, falling to US$2.84/kg in January this year, a year-on-year decrease of 9.8%.
2. In January 2015, my country’s cotton yarn imports from the top three import source countries all increased.
India, Pakistan, and Vietnam are my country’s top three source markets for cotton yarn imports, and their imports increased in January. In January 2015, my country imported 70,000 tons and 59,000 tons of cotton yarn from India and Pakistan respectively, a year-on-year increase of 15.7% and 27.4%. The import unit price was 2.74 US dollars/kg and 2.53 US dollars/kg, a decrease of 11.8% and 10.2%. Vietnam ranked third, with an import volume of 40,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 63.6%.
Among the remaining top ten import source countries, Indonesia and Uzbekistan also grew rapidly, with increases of 39.3% and 59.2% respectively. South Korea and Thailand increased by 0.6% and 5.3%. my country’s imports from the United States declined by 24.5%.
3. In January 2015, Guangdong’s imported cotton yarn was significantly ahead of other provinces.
In January, seven major provinces and cities imported more than 10,000 tons of cotton yarn, accounting for 92.2% of the total. Among them, only Beijing showed negative growth, with a decrease of 8.5%. The import volume was 27,000 tons, ranking third among importing provinces and cities. Guangdong imported 67,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 26.4%; Zhejiang imported 35,000 tons, ranking second, a year-on-year increase of 15.5%. The remaining four major provinces and cities are Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Fujian, all of which have experienced varying degrees of growth. Shanghai had the largest increase of 105.2%, with an import volume of 23,000 tons; Jiangsu, Shandong, and Fujian had an increase of 12%, 1%, and 31.7% respectively, with an import volume of 20,000 tons, 17,000 tons, and 11,000 tons respectively.