Cotton linter import volume resumes with diving price

Cotton linter import market gradually returns to be rational in 2022 after witnessing a blowout growth last year. The import of Sep hits new lows within the year and there is a significant increase in Oct, but still much lower than the comparable 2021 level. At the same time, the import price is diving.

The import of Sep falls to the bottom of 1.475kt this year when the macro environment is unsatisfactory both at home and abroad and end-user demand is dreary. It recovers to 4.577kt in Oct, up 210.4% m-o-m but still down 56.6% y-o-y.

With the sharp decline of cotton linter price in China, especially the significant reduction of import volume, the import price falls steeply to $426/mt in Oct, down 39.4% m-o-m and down 6.9% y-o-y, which is a y-o-y decline for the first time this year.

The concentration of the destinations has improved greatly as the import of Shandong and Jiangsu by ranking the top two places take up almost 70% of total volume, especially the former whose percentage is as high as 48%. In Jan-Oct, the import of Xinjiang increases obviously, while that of other areas declines sharply, especially that of Jiangsu. In the first ten months of 2022, Jiangsu imports 9.306kt of cotton linter, a y-o-y decrease of 73.4%. Xinjiang imports no cotton linter in 2021 and the import volume in Jan-Oct this year totals 5.202kt.

There is similar situation in the origins as Turkmenistan and India occupy almost 63% of imports, with the former taking up almost half of the total. However, the percentage of Turkey falls sharply to 1.8% due to the price.

In Jan-Oct, the import from major origins generally declines sharply, except that from Turkmenistan. Among them, India witnesses the biggest decline when the import drops by 81.3% y-o-y to 10.095kt.