Will cotton linter import see blowout growth again in 2022?

Cotton linter import of China continues to perform well this year as the import volume has been generally high, except for that of Mar. The import in May keeps increasing, hitting the second highest level since this year.

The import of cotton linter drops somehow this year after experiencing a blowout growth in 2021, but still at relatively high level. According customs data, cotton linter import of Chinese mainland totals 16.548kt in May 2022, up 64.84% m-o-m but down 17.93% y-o-y, which is the second highest level this year. The import amounts to 61.8kt in the first five months of 2022 and the import this year is likely to take up more than 17% of total demand.

The origins see big changes this year under the influence of increasing import volume, restrained resources and price-performance ratio. The import from Turkey is outstanding this year. In May, China imports 7.25kt cotton linter from Turkey, occupying almost 44% of total import. However, there is much less import from India this year due to reducing demand from staple-grade cotton linter pulp of decreasing production. China imports 2.448kt of cotton linter from India in May, taking up about 15% of total import.

The destinations also witness great divergences. Shandong and Anhui continue to take the leading position with the share exceeding 50% and the import of top five regions takes up more than 85% of total volume. Xinjiang as China's cotton linter production base imports 4.69kt of cotton linter in the first five months of 2022, taking up 7.6% of total import.

Cotton linter import of China generally stays at high level, despite modest decline compared with 2021. The huge price gap between Chinese and imported cotton linter as well as the Xinjiang cotton issue has spurred the continuous increase of imports, especially notable growth of Xinjiang as China's cotton linter production base.