Today, China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC) and China Silk Association held a press release in Beijing, expressing the concern on the unexpected surge of the silk price and requiring the silk industry recover to the healthy development.
On Feb. 23, the price of 20/22D3A filature silk reached RMB339,500 yuan per ton, breaking the historical record, which was 250,000 yuan per ton in 1987. The price in Jan. 2005 was only 170,000 yuan per ton, and increased to 260,000 yuan per ton in the end of 2005. The price is still climbing.
Mr. Xu Kunyuan, Vice-president of CNTAC and honorary president of China Silk Association, said he was extremely concerned about the climbing price, which will probably cause the big fluctuation of the silk industry in China. It will have negative impact on the industry development, he added.
Several factors jointly make the price surging. First of all, the supply can’t meet the demand. In 2005, the actual output was 113,000 tons, reflecting 10% increase year on year. However, the increasing rate of export and domestic sales increased much more. The export increased by 15.6% to 99,500 tons in the same period. Due to the improved consuming capacity of Chinese market, the domestic sales estimated to surge over 20% to 38,700 tons. Thus, the raw material was in short. Secondly, the autumn harvest of 2005 was not as good as expected. Thirdly, middlemen lifted the market price, together with capital from other industries, causing the price increased greatly.
The surging price will bring severe consequences. To the orders they accepted earlier, the silk production companies are in a dilemma. Due to the much higher price, they will lose considerable money to carry out the orders and trade disputes will arise for not carrying out the orders. The silk export will decrease and some companies will get into the situation of production stagnation.
The high price will also stimulate the silkworm farmers to blindly increase production. When price comes down, the farmers will suffer loss.
The middlemen will not avoid the damage, either. The spring cocoon will soon be on the market. It’s no good for the middlemen to hold the silk price.
CNTAC and China Silk Association called on that the silk industry should cooperate to promote the healthy development, with calm and responsible attitudes, and further exploit the domestic market, developing new products. (Iris)
