Global long staple cotton market faces obvious contradiction between production and consumption, and supply always exceeds the demand. The major producers are US, China and Egypt, and the major consumers are China and India. As the downstream market of long staple cotton is the high added-value industrial chain, the requirement for cotton is strict, so the long staple cotton price is not easily settled by supply and demand.
Global long staple cotton market supply is always higher than the demand, and the consumption has shrunk gradually since 2009/2010 season.
The major producers of long staple cotton are US, China and Egypt. The output of long staples in China has decreased obviously since 2016/17 season, while that in US and Egypt has gone up in recent years. In 2018/19 season, the proportion of US Pima output has taken a share of 37%, and that of Egypt Giza reached 19%, while China’s shares moved lower to 15%.
The major consumers of long staples are China and India, and limited long staples are exported. Egypt was a major consumer in previous seasons, but with the shrink of domestic textile industrial chain, the consumption of long staples has reduced. Till 2018/19 season, the consumption of long staples in China took a share of 43% in the world, close to a half.
Giza and Pima are the major long staples in circulation in the world, meanwhile, US Pima is the only machine-picked long staple cotton, and Giza is the only one extra long staples, which can not be replaced. The quality of long staple cotton of Turkmenistan is close to that of Xinjiang long staples in China, but its moisture content is less. Till 2018/19 season, exports of US long staples took a share of 56% in the world, and that of Egypt long staples reached 22%, and that of Turkmenistan long staples were 9%.
Viewed from the export destinations of US and Egypt long staples, it is obviously seen that the consumption in India has grown up obviously, while that in China has reduced. Pima is mainly exported to China and India, while consumers of Egyptian long staples are dispersive, and consumption is relatively fixed, but the transfer of industrial chain has been seen clearly, from Europe to Southeast Asia.
In China, the consumption of long staple cotton has slowly recovered since 2013/14 season, but it is still lower compared to the period between 2000/2001 and 2010/2011 season. Besides, the high carry-over stocks make profits shrink, and Xinjiang growers show lower intention to plant long staple cotton crops in recent three years. |
