A sharp decline in cotton linter import from India in Jan-Aug

In the past, India has always taken the lead in cotton linter imports into China, accounting for about 40% of China's cotton linter import market share. However, the import volume has dropped sharply this year, with a year-on-year decrease of nearly 60% in the first eight months. During the same period, Brazil, Turkey, and Turkmenistan have performed excellently, with their import volumes increasing significantly.

Due to the reduced consumption of cotton linter by cotton linter pulp mills, coupled with the impact of product cost-effectiveness and geopolitical conflicts, the import volume of Indian cotton linter has fluctuated greatly in recent years. The monthly import volume was the largest in Feb, which was 4,361.86 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 8.4%. It was the smallest in Aug, about 173.6 tons, a month-on-month decrease of 90.7% and a year-on-year decrease of 79.8%.

From a historical data perspective, the import volume reached a peak in 2015, totaling 85,752.2 tons, accounting for 43.3%. The import volume of Jan-Aug this year was relatively small, about 13,147.8 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 58.9%, accounting for 20.2%.

Due to the large fluctuations in the import volume of Indian cotton linter, the import price has also fluctuated more significantly in recent years. In Aug this year, the import price of Indian cotton linter was $652.02/mt, which was 46.4% higher than China's average import price. In Jan-Aug, the import price of Indian cotton linter was $384.37/mt, which was 13.5% lower than the national average.

The import volume of Turkish and Brazilian cotton linter has increased significantly this year. In Aug, the proportion of their import volume reached as high as 88.5%. In Jan-Aug, the proportion of their import volume also reached 56%. During the same period, the import from India dropped significantly, and the proportion also declined notably, which was 3.7% in Aug and 20.2% in Jan-Aug.

To sum up, due to the reduced consumption of cotton linter by cotton linter pulp mills, as well as the impact of geopolitical conflicts and the cost-effectiveness of the products, the import of Indian cotton linter has fluctuated greatly in recent years. In Aug this year, the import volume decreased by nearly 80% year-on-year, and from Jan to Aug, the import volume decreased by nearly 60% year-on-year. With the increase in the fluctuation of import volume, the import price and the proportion of import volume have also fluctuated more significantly in recent years. During the same period, the imports of Turkish and Brazilian cotton linter have grown significantly.