Gathering industry synergy and giving full play to technological advantages, Shandong cotton industry moves to the world stage

The world’s textiles look to China, and China’s textiles look to Shandong. How good is Shandong Textile? In the “Top 100 Cotton Textile Industry” released by the ChinaCotton Textile Industry Association, Shandong has a total of 24 companies on the list, including the top 10 occupies 5 seats. Shandong is a traditional strong textile province in China. The popular TV series “Dyeing Fang” has also shown this grand occasion from multiple angles.

On May 5, the Quancheng Cotton Forum sponsored by the Shandong Cotton Association was held in Jinan, aiming to gather the strength of enterprises, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and promote high quality in the cotton industry develop. Many industry leaders are here to analyze policy trends and share new concepts, new ideas, and new experiences in promoting high-quality development of the cotton industry in the new era and new journey. How will Shandong’s textile industry become bigger and stronger next, and show greater strength on the national and even world stages? The reporter interviewed Kong Zisheng, secretary-general of the Shandong Cotton Association.

The total cotton volume ranks among the top in the country

“In the high fields, sesame seeds are grown; in the short fields, cotton is grown, and there is a big pumpkin in the cotton field…” This children’s folk song spread in the southwestern region of Shandong Province reflects the long history of cotton cultivation in Shandong from one aspect. Shandong Province is an important cotton production, consumption and textile and clothingexportprovince in the country. The total cottonindustrial economy development ranks first Ranking among the best in the country.

Kong Zisheng told reporters that his parents both work in the cotton and linen industry in Shandong, and he can be regarded as a serious “second generation cotton”. As a child, he was interested in Shandong cotton. In his memory, Shandong’s cotton-producing area in the Yellow River Basin, which belongs to the three major cotton-producing areas, is a province with a traditional cotton industry and economy. At that time, Shandong and Xinjiang were almost on the same starting line and jointly started the pioneering business of cotton planting. I heard from family members that Shandong once led the country in cotton planting area and output, and was the largest cotton planting province. Among the three major cotton planting areas in Shandong, northern Shandong is a traditional one-crop cotton planting area in the coastal saline-alkali land of the Yellow River Delta, northwest Shandong is an old cotton planting area with one and two crops mixed with the old Yellow River, and southwestern Shandong is a two-crop high-efficiency cotton planting area.

In recent years, affected by various factors such as Sino-US trade friction, frequent natural disasters, and declining income from cotton planting, cotton planting area and output in Shandong Province have dropped significantly. In 2022, Shandong’s cotton planting area is only 1.69 million acres, with a yield of 145,000 tons, mainly concentrated in southwestern Shandong, northern Shandong, and northwestern Shandong. Cotton planting is basically based on family units, with low planting concentration, random and scattered areas, serious fragmentation, low mechanization level, and cotton production costs, especially labor costs, are too high.

Textile technology leads the country

Although the cotton planting area is getting smaller and smaller, Shandong’s cotton industry’s textile technology accumulated over many years is still leading the country. On March 28, 2022, Shandong listed the modern light textile industry among the “top ten” industries for the conversion of old and new driving forces, and proposed six major actions, including optimizing and upgrading the industrial chain and supply chain, and accelerating technological research and development innovation, to promote the construction of a modern light textile industry system. . The Shandong Cotton Association saw this opportunity for development and actively organized the industry to regroup and start again, gathering the industry’s joint efforts to join forces and go overseas to enter the market.

“I have just returned from a research trip to a member company in Liaocheng, and we have reached a lot of consensus through discussions. Next, we will organize some companies to act together, first making efforts on the domestic stage, and then forming a group to ‘go overseas’ with the help of technological power. Strive for greater results in the international market.” Kong Zisheng said that Shandong’s textile industry has outstanding technological innovation capabilities, including aramid, carbon fiber, chitosan fiber, graphene fiber and other new fiber material technologies are leading in the country, and the number of important awards such as scientific and technological achievement awards is among the top in the industry. As the only province in the country with all 41 major industrial categories, Shandong’s deep cross-integration with other industrial fields will introduce more new increments to the development of Shandong’s modern textile industry. In particular, Shandong’s advantages in medicine, medicine, and digital fields can be used to carry out research and development of medical textilenew materials to open up a larger market.

Relevant data shows that in 2022, despite the impact of weak market demand, high raw material costs, and a more complex trade environment, textile enterprises above designated size across the country still achieved operating income of 5,256.4 billion yuan and total profits of 206.7 billion yuan. Kong Zisheng believes that Shandong enterprises, which account for half of the top ten in the country’s cotton textile industry, will usher in a period of rapid development in the face of market opportunities arising from the conversion of old and new driving forces. Under the organization of the industry association, many member companies have joined hands to actively leverage Shandong’s leading advantages in textile technology, and are expected to show a stronger “Shandong power” in the domestic and even international markets.

Competing for more say in the international market

China’s demand for cotton has long remained the world’s largest, accounting for 30%-35% of total demand. As a major market supplier, Chinese cotton textile companies have less than satisfactory say in the international arena. As the “second generation of cotton”, Kong Zisheng’s biggest wish is to push China’s industry standards to the forefront.The world has more say.

Kong Zisheng told reporters that China imports more than 2 million tons of cotton from abroad every year, making it the world’s largest consumer of cotton. However, many market rules are formulated by Western countries. At the same time, in the international market, disputes arising from cotton transactions are generally mediated or arbitrated according to the rules of Western countries. As a major cotton user, China has always been at a disadvantage in this regard.

Whether it is the Cotton School of the International Cotton Association in Liverpool, England, or the Memphis Cotton School organized by the United States Department of Agriculture, in the teaching process, they all want to transfer their own value systems such as trade arbitration and transaction models to students, so as to Improve its international status in the cotton industry and gain market say. China also needs to increase investment in talent training and cultivation to cultivate more professional talents, thereby enhancing its international voice and providing more opportunities for Chinese cotton textile companies to gain prestige in the international market. Strong support.

Kong Zisheng revealed that the Shandong Cotton Association is actively communicating with relevant technical departments and customs, striving to advance the cotton inspection process and test more elements of imported cotton, so as to more accurately grasp the quality of imported cotton. elements to lay a better foundation for subsequent industry links.

AAA

Disclaimer:

Disclaimer: Some of the texts, pictures, audios, and videos of some articles published on this site are from the Internet and do not represent the views of this site. The copyrights belong to the original authors. If you find that the information reproduced on this website infringes upon your rights, please contact us and we will change or delete it as soon as possible.