Cotton linter import of China keeps rising in 2021

There is new increment of cotton linter demand this year and the prosperity of import market has not been seen for years, especially in later period of 2020/21 crop year when cotton linter supply is tighter, rising imports have filled the supply gap.

According to customs data, China imports 21.141kt of cotton linter in Aug 2021, down 12.9% m-o-m but up 193.3% y-o-y. The monthly import has been stabilizing above 20kt, which is the fourth time of exceeding 20kt after Apr, May and Jul this year.

China imports 146.1kt of cotton linter in the first eight months of 2021, up 181.3% y-o-y, with monthly average import of 18.3kt. The cumulative import volume of Jan-Aug this year is far more than that of the annual import for the year of 2017-2020.

Cotton linter supply has tightened and the import volume has been rising with fast increase of import price, which is $434.76/mt in Aug, up $16.1% m-o-m and up 31% y-o-y. In Jan-Aug, the import price averages at $348.55/mt, up 0.5% y-o-y.

The concentration of market sources further improves with continued growth of imports. In Aug, the import from Turkey still takes the leading position by touching 8.879kt, up 468.4% y-o-y and taking up 42% of total imports. The import price averages at $365.4/mt. It is the fourth time that Turkey tanks the top place among all of origins since May this year.

In Jan-Aug, Turkey, India and Brazil rank the top three places in import market, occupying 85% of total imports. The import from Turkey amounts to 53.697kt, taking up 37% of total imports. The import price averages at $305.3/mt.

Shandong still takes the leading position among all of destinations as the import volume reaches 12.022kt, taking up 57% of total imports, with import price at $395.09/mt. In Jan-Aug, the import from Shandong totals 57.2kt, accounting for almost 40% of total imports. Coupled with Anhui and Jiangsu, the three provinces take the leading position by taking up more than 80% of total imports.