Cotton prices drop in cotton clothes but it is difficult for chemical fiber to take the high-tech image to the front

Jiangsu, China, November 24th: Ms. Hong went to the supermarket yesterday to buy cotton sweaters for the whole family. She found that the underwear of cotton fabrics in supermarkets was obviously not more than two years ago. Many brands launched a large amount of cotton. And blended with chemical fiber or known as the fabric of the new fiber material, so she did not know what kind of good. Right now is the cotton picking season across the country, the reporter learned from the Wuxi Textile Industry Association yesterday that the data so far this year so far, the domestic cotton prices fell by an average of 53%. The price of cotton dropped sharply. Why is the amount of cotton clothes we can buy on the market less?

Background: Cotton prices have fallen by 53% in a year

After experiencing last year's skyrocketing rise, the price of cotton has begun to show a major reversal. According to the latest statistics from the Wuxi Textile Industry Association, the price of 328 standard cotton has dropped sharply from the peak of 32,000 yuan per ton to the current 19,800 yuan, and the average decline has reached 53%. After the country introduced the cotton understood purchase policy, the cotton prices that have been drastically declining began to gradually stabilize.

“If the skyrocketing price of cotton last year was a metal attribute of speculation, then this year can be seen as a return of market attributes.” Wu Zhiqing, president of Wuxi Textile Industry Association, analyzed that this round of price reduction is a combination of various factors. The role of the European and American economies, the domestic textile companies to reduce the amount of orders, lower purchase prices. The soaring cotton prices last year also caused downstream industries to digest and forced the price of cotton down. Due to the lack of orders, some small and medium-sized enterprises in Zhejiang and Shandong provinces have already stopped production or semi-discontinued. According to Wu Zhiqing, the embarrassing needs of the entire cotton textile industry are even worse than those of the 2008 financial crisis. “At that time only It is the downturn in the international market, but now there has been a sharp drop in international and domestic demand."

However, judging from the situation of Wuxi cotton spinning enterprises, only some small plants stopped some of the equipment, and the operation of large manufacturers remained relatively stable. According to the analysis of Wuxi Textile Industry Association, this has a lot to do with the management level and market positioning of cotton spinning companies in our city. "Many of our cotton spinning companies adjusted the market as early as the financial crisis of 2008 and aimed at the domestic high-end market. Now, the prospect of a professional clothing market is still good," said Wu Zhiqing.

Visit: comfortable cotton is no longer a selling point in a fast-fashion brand store, the public Kobayashi feels a soft texture of the bottom shirt feels feel good, look at the price of 99 yuan is not expensive, immediately bought a single . However, when I went home, Kobayashi said that the bottoming shirt of cotton was actually only 30% cotton, and the other 70% was polyester fiber. "I used to buy this brand several bottoming shirts are pure cotton, this year that slipping shirt is this kind of fabric, no wonder feel more slippery than before, the original chemical fiber components accounted for the protagonist." Kobayashi said with emotion.

When reporters visited several underwear shops and supermarkets in the city center yesterday, they obviously felt that various new fabrics were rapidly replacing traditional cotton fabrics. Although the vast majority of clothing is marked with cotton, but only the percentage of cotton, many have added acrylic fiber, nylon, Lycra, polyester fiber and other chemical fiber components. A certain brand of cotton sweater suit labeling is cotton, a closer look, there are about 10% spandex composition. There are also many new types of underwear using bamboo fiber, wood fiber, silk and other new silk fabrics, feel more smooth than the cotton, check the ingredients, not a little cotton. In the past, the common winter clothes were difficult to find a pure cotton, and more than 80% were chemical fiber ingredients. As for the reporter's question about why the market is becoming less and less, a salesperson said, “Now many new fabrics are more comfortable to wear than pure cotton, and some high-tech components are particularly good for sweat absorption, and unlike cotton wear, Wear easily deformed."

Doubt: Why does the price of cotton fall? Why not use more cotton? The price of cotton has plummeted. Why is the amount of cotton clothes worn by the public less? "It's nothing strange." Wu Zhiqing analyzed that, first of all, compared with cotton prices, chemical fiber prices have risen in recent years, but the overall increase is much smaller than that of cotton. Its current price is only about 2/3 of that of cotton. . Second, the world’s cotton production cannot meet the market demand. “The international market produces 11 million tons of cotton annually, domestic production is 6.5 to 7 million tons, and the annual import volume is more than 2 million tons, and the domestic market still has about 2 million tons. Notch, so you can only use chemical fiber to fill this gap." Again, to trace the history of chemical fiber products to replace a large number of cotton products, or from the 2008 financial crisis. “At that time, cotton prices were high and international orders were insufficient. Many cotton spinning companies in our city adjusted their structure in time and purchased cheaper chemical fiber to develop blended products to reduce cost pressure.” Wu Zhiqing said that it was from then on that chemical fiber clothing was on the market. The speed of listing and the number of listed products have started to increase.

In addition to price factors, the dramatic increase in the speed of the development of chemical fiber has also accelerated its market share in recent years. It turned out that many people think that nothing more than chemical fiber is polyester, acrylic, wearing an airtight, has long been eliminated by the market. However, judging from the reporter’s actual visit situation, chemical fiber products are currently appearing in many brands as new images of high-tech and new materials, especially in outdoor brands, where many quick-drying, waterproof, and warm chemical fiber fabrics are used. Has been more and more young people like, the price has gradually exceeded the cotton clothing. The reporter saw in a shopping mall that a certain sports brand is almost a style of long-sleeved T-shirt, 200 yuan of pure cotton will be able to win, while the chemical fiber fabric is sold for more than 500 yuan. Wu Zhiqing told reporters that at present, the weaving process of chemical fiber has reached the international level, but there is still a big gap between the level of post-finishing technology and the world-class level. “If our company can have a faster upgrade in this process, the basic chemical fiber Can replace cotton, the proportion of future chemical fiber clothing will be higher." (Wuxi Commerce) (E04)