Abrupt rising of vortex-spun yarn capacity in China

Ring-spun, open-end and vortex-spun are the major technology of spun yarns. Siro-spun and compact siro-spun spun is essentially improved on the basis of ring-spun yarn. In terms of production capacity, ring-spun yarn still occupies an absolute leading position, but it has been declining since 2011. The capacity of open-end yarn has also begun to drop since 2019, except for rapid growth of vortex-spun yarn capacity.

Since 2019, the growth rate of vortex-spun yarn capacity has been more than 10%. According to the import data from January to August, the growth rate is expected to exceed 20% this year, and the quantity of machines will increase by about 600 sets. By then, the total number of vortex-spun yarn machines in China will reach about 3,200 sets, mainly distributing in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Xinjiang, accounting for around 80% of Chinese capacity.

According to the communication with spinners and the time line of Murata's products, it is roughly estimated that the models of vortex-spun yarn machines are mainly 870 and 870EX. Based on the standard production speed of each model announced by Murata, the production capacity of Chinese vortex-spun yarn is about 8.25 million spindles (converted by the output of ring-spun R30S). The actual value is definitely lower than that, which is expected to account for about 8-10% of ring-spun yarn capacity.

Under the background of difficult recruitment, high labor cost and expensive energy, vortex-spun yarn has achieved cost reduction and efficiency enhancement, which is also the reason for the rapid expansion of the capacity in recent years. Compared with traditional ring-spun yarn, the investment cost of vortex-spun yarn is about 4 million yuan higher per 10,000 spindles, but with the improved intelligence of ring-spun yarn, the investment cost is also rising. Therefore, in terms of investment in equipment, the gap between ring-spun and vortex-spun yarn is narrowing, but the former covers a larger area, so land and construction costs will be higher. In general, the investment cost of intelligent ring-spun yarn is expected to be higher than that of vortex-spun yarn.

Under the condition that the investment amount of intelligent ring-spun yarn and vortex-spun yarn is similar, the per ton depreciation is basically the same, but the per 10,000 spindles labor cost and per ton electricity consumption of vortex-spun yarn is lower. Disregarding the financial expenses, the cost difference between the two is almost 400yuan/mt (take R30S as an example). The higher the count, the greater the cost difference. Therefore, vortex-spun yarn has a great advantage in the per ton cost.

Many enterprises are more willing to expand the capacity when vortex-spun yarn is much more advantageous, but in the context of turbulent international situation and weak global consumption, rapid capacity expansion is likely to cause oversupply, so the tempo and risks are noteworthy.