Why cotton linter import of China keeps rising this year?

Cotton linter import of China continues to increase in 2022 after witnessing a blowout-type growth last year as the import volume in the first two months of this year has increased by more than 60% year on year.

According to customs data, China imports 30.1kt of cotton linter in the first two months of 2022, up 60.2% year on year. The import of Jan and Feb is respectively 16.93kt and 13.17kt, up 80% and 40.3% year on year.

At the same time, the price of imported cotton linter is rising rapidly. In Jan-Feb, the import price averages at $537/mt, up 94.9% year on year. The price in Jan and Feb is respectively $510/mt and $573/mt, up 85.8% and 106.7% year on year.

Although the import price is hiking, there is still a big price gap between import and Chinese cotton linter. Take Turkish and US-origin cotton linter for example, the price of the former is $642/mt in Feb, which is less than 4,900yuan/mt in RMB terms. The latter of $543/mt is equivalent to 4,100yuan/mt, while cotton linter for industry-grade refined cotton in China is sold above 6,000yuan/mt and that is why cotton linter import volume keeps increasing.

The import from the top five origins takes up 85% of total volume and Turkey continues to take the leading position. China imports 6.906kt of cotton linter from Turkey in the first two months of 2022, up 106% year on year. The import from the US increases sharply by 326% year on year due to rising imports by specialty pulp mills and refined cotton plants, while that from India declines significantly by almost 64% due to less consumption by cotton linter pulp mills.

The import to the top five destinations occupies more than 97% of total volume. Shandong still ranks the top place whose import volume amounts to 13.188kt in Jan-Feb, taking up 43.8% of total imports. It is noteworthy that Xinjiang as China’s cotton linter production base imports cotton linter for the first time since Aug, 2020.

In conclusion, China's cotton linter import market witnesses a good start in the first two months of 2022. Besides the demand from cotton linter pulp mills and refined cotton plants, the huge price difference between imported and Chinese cotton linter has attracted more sources outside China.