South Korea's textile industry continues to pick up cotton imports to 17,000 tons

As South Korea's textile industry continued to pick up, in July this year, cotton imports increased to 17,000 tons, an increase of 1.9% year-on-year. In 2009/10, imports totaled 220,000 tons, the highest in three years. From the perspective of imported varieties, Brazilian cotton is still the most imported species, but it has decreased 13.9% year-on-year, while US cotton and Australian cotton are also the main importers.

At the same time, as Pakistan restricts the export of cotton yarn, South Korea's import of cotton yarn to Pakistan has decreased, but the import volume of cotton yarn to other countries has increased. In the first 7 months of this year, the cumulative import volume of cotton yarn reached 138,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 28.7%. It is expected that the outlook for the textile industry will continue to be optimistic and the import volume of cotton yarn is expected to increase further.

However, affected by the rise in global cotton prices, the average import cost of Korean cotton in July reached a record high of 88.17 cents/lb. The average import cost of cotton yarn rose to 178 cents/lb. The global cotton price in the new year is expected to continue to rise. By then, the cost of cotton imports by South Korean textile mills will continue to increase. The profits of downstream textile mills and retailers may be further reduced, which may eventually lead to higher prices for apparel and home textile products.