Dong Kuiyong, President Of China Cotton Textile Industry Association: Expand Cotton Consumption And Promote High-Quality Development Of Cotton Textile Industry

At the 2023 National Textile and Garment "Optimizing Supply to Promote Upgrading" event held recently, Dong Kuiyong, president of China Cotton Textile Industry Association, pointed out that expanding cotton consumption is an important driving force for the cotton textile industry and an important manifestation of high-quality development of the industry.

Dong Kuiyong said that the report of the 20th CPC National Congress pointed out the direction for China's cotton textile industry to build a modern industrial system and achieve high-quality development. The Central Economic Work Conference made an overall plan for economic work in 2023, and put "focusing on expanding domestic demand" at the top of economic work. From the perspective of the CPC Central Committee's decision and deployment on the current and future economic and social development, developing the domestic demand market will be an important engine and key to China's economic work in the future.

Dong Kuiyong introduced that in 2023, facing heavy pressure, the cotton textile industry achieved a good start in the first quarter, and production and sales recovered steadily, showing positive changes in many aspects. Since the beginning of the year, the cotton price has dropped significantly compared with the same period last year. The cotton price risk has been fully released, and the cost advantage has obviously recovered. Enterprises have increased the proportion of cotton consumption. The data of the first quarter showed that cotton procurement increased by 22.76% year on year, and consumption increased by 8.12% year on year. The confidence of enterprises in cotton consumption recovered significantly; The retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, knitwear and textiles above the designated size increased by 9% year on year, and the terminal demand continued to increase.

Dong Kuiyong said that the next step will focus on promoting five aspects of work to expand cotton consumption.

First, guide enterprises to make good use of relevant policies. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to strengthen the coordination and cooperation of various policies to form a joint force to jointly promote high-quality development. Enterprises should carefully study and make full use of relevant policies to fully enjoy policy dividends in enterprise development, technological innovation, green manufacturing, raw material guarantee, brand cultivation, etc. For example, the Notice on Measures for Improving the Implementation of the Cotton Target Price Policy released by the state points out that the target price level of cotton from 2023 to 2025 will be 18600 yuan per ton, and Xinjiang cotton will be subsidized with a fixed output of 5.1 million tons. Quality subsidies will be implemented in a wider range, quality subsidy standards will be reasonably determined, and high-quality cotton production will be guided by "high-quality subsidies". The new round of cotton target price policy will continue to play a macro role in stabilizing cotton production and promoting quality improvement, providing a strong guarantee for cotton demand in the cotton textile industry.

The second is to guide the industry to promote the expansion of domestic demand for cotton products from the supply side. Both the Central Economic Work Conference and the Report on the Work of the Government clearly require that "recovery and expansion of consumption should be given priority" when deploying key economic tasks in 2023. In 2023, the cotton textile industry will continue to play a fundamental and supporting role by means of stabilizing its scale, innovating its products, ensuring its quality, and improving its efficiency, so as to promote the formation of a benign supply chain ecology driven by the consumer end, driven by the raw material end, and coordinated by the manufacturing end, create an efficient, high-quality, and responsible cotton textile and clothing supply system, and maintain the flexibility and stability of the supply system, And form joint efforts with stakeholders to stimulate consumers' purchasing vitality for high-quality cotton products.

Third, guide the industry to give play to the advantages of the whole industry chain and stabilize the international market share. The Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that the position and competitiveness of traditional industries in the global industrial division should be improved. China has joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and is currently applying to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP). The cotton textile industry will make full use of the conditions created by economic and trade agreements such as RCEP to expand the development of countries along the "Belt and Road" and emerging markets such as ASEAN, Africa and Latin America. On the basis of having established overseas processing bases, powerful enterprises can moderately develop transnational industrial chains, carry out efficient transnational resource allocation, carry out scientific and orderly global industrial layout, transform the advantages of China's cotton textile market scale and production system into new advantages of participating in international cooperation and competition, and accelerate integration into the new development pattern of domestic and international double circulation and mutual promotion.

Fourth, guide the industry to improve total factor productivity. Improving total factor productivity is the power source of high-quality development of cotton textile industry, and also the key to expanding cotton demand. As a traditional competitive industry, the cotton textile industry needs to focus on improving total factor productivity at the stage of high-speed development turning to high-quality development. It needs to adhere to self-reliance in science and technology, talent leadership and drive, increase investment in basic scientific research, win the battle of key core technologies, and increase the transformation of scientific research achievements.

Fifth, guide the industry to deeply implement the "three products" strategy of consumer goods industry, and improve the supply capacity and level of cotton textile products. The cotton textile industry will continue to implement the "three products" strategy of the consumer goods industry through scientific and technological innovation, green development, and fashion leadership, lead and create demand with high-quality supply, and promote the upgrading of cotton textile products and consumption. On the one hand, guide enterprises to fully study the characteristics of the domestic demand market, closely follow the terminal consumption trend, rely on "intelligent manufacturing+product innovation", and take the Chinese yarn fashion trend, Chinese denim fabric fashion trend, etc. as the guide, strengthen the integration and interaction between the industrial end and the consumer end, refine the consumption scene, carry out category and variety innovation, and tap the market potential. On the other hand, optimize the integrated application of non cotton fibers and cotton fibers, explore the processing technology of multi-component yarn fabrics, and make full efforts in product functionality and differentiation to better meet the diversified, multi-level and multifaceted consumption needs. Adhere to the "chain" thinking and the concept of symbiosis and co prosperity ecosystem, and build a high-quality cotton textile processing and manufacturing brand with high quality, high efficiency and low cost.

Dong Kuiyong said that although the current cotton textile industry is still facing internal and external pressure, from the perspective of the international overall pattern, China's cotton textile industry system is complete, the industrial chain is strong, and its position in the international supply chain cannot be replaced. He believed that with the support of all parties, cotton consumption will continue to recover and achieve accelerated recovery.