China hoarding over half of global cotton reserves

March 11, 2013 Leave a comment

China hoarding over half of global cotton reserves

Staff Reporter

2013-03-11

China’s cotton reserves reached 9.28 million tons in February, accounting for 52% of global reserves, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

As of Feb. 1, reserves stood at 6.15 million tons, accounting for 83% of the country’s cotton reserves expected in 2013, according to texnet.com.cn, a leading Chinese-language textile website. The record stockpiles will make it difficult for the country to control its reserves for the rest of the year.

The partial release of national reserves of cotton into the textile industry in February further lowered the market price, leading to a record low turnover rate.

The strong cotton demand of many domestic textile companies was underscored due to the relatively low rate of operations. Many companies are still recruiting after the Chinese New Year holidays (Feb. 9-15), said officials with the China National Cotton Reserves Corp. Domestic textile export companies also have to deal with poor exports caused by a slump in international cotton prices last year, said the officials.

The government released a batch of national reserve cotton of medium-quality for 19,000 yuan per ton (US$3,050) on Jan. 14, to meet the demand of domestic textile companies. Companies are, however, reluctant to buy the still relatively high-priced commodity, said analysts. They are resorting to the use of chemical fiber materials in the short-term.

Filed under Macro Trends

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