China’s consumption of cotton has fallen. Slowing global economic growth has hurt the demand for textiles.China’s cotton consumption in the 2022/2023 crop year that began in September 2022 was 7.5 million tons, 2,00,000 tons lower than the forecast.
Growing enthusiasm by farmers to sell corn ahead of next month’s Lunar New Year holiday as well as easing Covid restrictions on movement have boosted supply of the grain, pressuring the market.
An expected increase in consumption and willingness to replenish stocks may help corn prices stabilise at a high level. China’s position as the top global cotton importer is weakening. Cotton shipments are flowing into flourishing textile industries in competing countries. Soon after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, its textile manufacturers became the world’s leading importers of cotton. However, following years of rising production costs, volatility from government intervention in the market, and government caps on the volume of imports, China’s cotton imports dropped from their peak of 24.5 million bales in 2011 to 4.4 million bales in 2015, although they rebounded to 9.5 million bales in 2021.
Over the same period, competing countries such as Vietnam, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Turkey have expanded their textile industries and boosted cotton imports, which combined now exceed those of China.
