BEIJING: Pakistan exported US 54.613 million dollars of cotton yarn in August, registering a year-on-year decline of 51.36%, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Friday quoting official sources. However, its cotton yarn export to China has surged in the same month.
As data from China's General Administration of Customs shows, China imported US 41.836 million dollars worth of cotton yarn from Pakistan in August, which is 4.36 times the 9.592 million dollars in the same period last year, with a year-on-year increase of 336 percent.
Pakistan mainly produces low-count sirospun yarns, such as those of 8s or 10s, generally below 21s, which are mostly imported to south China's Guangdong province to be made into denim, said Huang Xifeng, sales executive of import and export department at Litai Xingshi (Taicang) Holding Co Ltd.
"We imported about 1,000 tons of cotton yarns from Pakistan every year. Our denim fabric is made of thick and low-count yarns, which are basically 10s or 8s, no more than 12s." Yang Bin, Director of Seazon Textile and Apparel Co Ltd in Foshan, China, said in an interview with CEN. Yang added that he has cooperated with Pakistan's cotton yarn manufacturers for 10 years.
"As for Pakistan's cotton yarn, we only imported it from Explorer, a Pakistani manufacturer, with which we have cooperated for more than ten years. Produced locally in Pakistan with American and Australian cotton as raw materials, it boasts the best quality of all. And yet, most of the other Pakistani producers adopt locally grown cotton, which may save RMB hundreds per ton. Although Pakistani cotton is somewhat of inferior quality to that in America, Australia, and China, it can be made into denim," Yang said.
"Pakistani cotton yarn RMB 3,000 cheaper per ton than that of China with zero tariff. The main reason for the surge in import lies in the fact that Pakistan's yarn export to China enjoys zero tariff, thus having a greater competitive advantage internationally. That's why we prefer Pakistani cotton yarn even when offered the same price," said Ke Jiangwei, general manager of Xiamen Naseem Trade Co Ltd, which has been importing Pakistani yarn for many years in China.
"It is not just tariffs, but the price that attracts us," said Yang, adding that "as Pakistani yarn is much cheaper than the Chinese one, the largest gap reached RMB 2,000 to 3,000 per ton in the last two years, with a price gap of about 10%.
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