Industry Insiders Call For Timely Adjustment Of China'S Cotton Storage Policy

In recent years, cotton The cost of planting rose sharply, and farmers' enthusiasm for planting cotton declined. Industry insiders predict that China's cotton planting area will decline by 6.7% year on year in 2013, cotton production will continue to shrink, and the production situation of the domestic cotton industry will face challenges.

It is understood that in recent years, due to the impact of the international financial crisis, the world economic growth has remained sluggish, the demand of major economies is insufficient, the global textile and clothing trade has declined significantly, and the international cotton price has declined significantly. China, as a major country in cotton production and consumption, and a major exporter of textiles and clothing, has been severely impacted, and all parties in the industrial chain have been under greater pressure. Although the cotton planting area of the world's major producing countries has decreased, the situation of oversupply has improved, and China's textile and clothing exports have also recovered, the general environment of insufficient demand has not changed, and the RMB appreciation, rising labor costs, financial difficulties for SMEs and other constraints still exist. If the cotton market continues to be depressed, the sustainable development of the entire cotton textile industry will face severe challenges.

In order to stabilize the market expectations of cotton producers, operators and cotton using enterprises, protect the interests of cotton farmers and ensure market supply, the NDRC released an announcement on its website on April 12, and the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China, the General Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and the Agricultural Development Bank of China formulated the 2013 Interim Cotton Storage Plan, It shall be issued upon the approval of the State Council. At the same time, the latest cotton grading standard will also be implemented. It is expected that the newly revised national standard will be introduced at the latest from the end of July to the beginning of August. Analysts pointed out that the new national standard will be fully integrated with the international cotton grading standard, becoming an important symbol of the marketization of domestic cotton trade. The idea of this standard reform of grade indicators is to split the grade indicators and replace them with HVI testing and grading of cotton color, micronaire value and rolling quality. According to the introduction, the new standard adopts the "color level physical standard" and is divided into four types: white cotton, light spot dirty cotton, light yellow dyed cotton and yellow cotton, with 13 color levels in total.

People in the industry have different views on the temporary cotton storage policy. According to media reports, at the 2013 China International Cotton Conference Cotton trading market Ding Haowu, the general manager, believes that the policy can be understood as "one satisfied, three dissatisfied". "One satisfaction" means that the cotton farmers are basically satisfied. The price is stabilized through the temporary purchase and storage policy, so the enthusiasm of cotton farmers is basically stable. "Three unsatisfied" or "not very satisfied": first, in the circulation link, there is nothing to do except to engage in delivery and storage or import cotton; Second, the price difference of textile, especially cotton textile industry, exceeds its affordability. It is very difficult for the cotton textile industry to digest this cost when the price difference reaches the level of 4500 yuan or even 5000 yuan or 6000 yuan; Third, finance. In order to reserve huge cotton stocks, the potential loss of national finance exceeds 20 billion yuan every year.

Shi Jinkai, the director of China Cotton Group Co., Ltd., said that since the implementation of the cotton purchase and storage policy, the positive effect on China's cotton industry is worthy of recognition. The improvement of any policy needs a process, and to some extent, it may cost some money. At present, the problem of the temporary collection and storage policy is manifested in the disconnection and separation of the international market and the domestic market, which is an important problem caused by the existing policy.

Gao Fang, Director of the Cotton and Hemp Bureau of the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperation, and Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the China Cotton Association, believes that the problems of implementing this policy have been exposed. How to find a better policy for China is a problem that needs to be considered in the future.

Liu Xiaonan, Deputy Director of the Economic and Trade Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, pointed out that the basic starting point of the policy has been reached, but it is undeniable that any policy has its limitations. The temporary storage policy has brought pressure on storage and management, weakening the role of market regulation.

There are so many problems in the temporary cotton storage policy, then what kind of policy can resolve the dilemma faced by the cotton industry? Industry insiders suggest that China should adjust in a timely manner Policy on cotton storage And directly subsidize cotton farmers to ensure their enthusiasm for cotton planting and protect their interests.