The price of cotton dropped by 40% in half a year

The weather gradually got colder. Whether it was a shopping mall or a small shop, clothes were all "up". On October 16, the reporter found that in a number of young girl brand stores, clothes generally have a certain increase. And sales staff usually explain that it is caused by “risk of raw materials and artificial rise”. The reporters found that, in fact, cotton prices have fallen, cotton to cotton to cotton, the cost has not risen too much, but added to the last shopping mall this link has risen badly.

Raw cotton purchase price fell a lot

Nearly November, the green cotton oil in a farmland in Jimo Hot Springs looked past and the little white cotton seeds appeared to be harvested. "Compared to last year, this year's cotton harvest is still good, but now, the price is too unsatisfactory, compared to last year, a lot more money." Lao Liu, a villager who is bending down to clean up cotton, said.

In Shandong, the main cotton growing areas are concentrated in Binzhou, Dongying, and Weifang, and cotton, as the main raw material of cotton clothes, will inevitably affect the cost of clothing if its price rises. Sales personnel often say so. So, is it because the increase in cotton prices led to a continuous rise in apparel prices?

In some of the major cotton growing areas in Weifang, most farmers have not made any money this year because of cotton, because this year the cotton is not earning money at all. “This year's purchase price of cotton has been more than 4 pieces, and no more than 4 pieces. Money, and this time last year, the price of seed cotton was close to 6 bucks, and it was almost 7 bucks at the highest,” said a cotton farmer.

It is understood that last year's cotton market has been a high-profile operation, opening the price of about 4.3 yuan / kg, all the way up to 5.5 yuan / kg or so, into October, the price once rose to 6 yuan / kg. The situation of cotton prices this year is not optimistic. The opening price is less than 4 yuan/kg.

Different from the purchase price, the ** price of cotton did not change much compared with the same period. In September 2010, the domestic cotton price was about 18,000 yuan/ton, and it went up all the way. By March 2011, the quotation broke through the 30,000 yuan/ton mark. Since April of this year, the domestic cotton price has dropped significantly and it has now fallen to around 20,000 yuan/ton. According to statistics, in the past six months alone, the domestic cotton price has fallen by nearly 40%.

As such, the price of cotton as a source material has not only risen, but has dropped a lot.

Cotton yarn raw materials fell hedging labor costs

After the cotton is picked and purchased, the seed cotton is processed in the acquisition plant, and the cotton seeds and cotton are separated to make lint. Then they enter a series of upstream links such as spinning, weaving, and setting, and how much is the cost of this part of the upstream link. What about the increase?

The reporter went to Gaomi City in Weifang to find out. Due to the high profits of textiles, large and small spinning and weaving companies were established in Gaomi City, becoming a gathering area for small and medium-sized enterprises that mainly supply cotton yarn and grey fabrics in Shandong Province. Inside a business building in Gaomi City, Ren's office desk is filled with yarn coils of different sizes. “My main job is spinning, which is the first step in the entire weaving process. You can see now. These yarns are different types of yarns.” Any person who has been spinning for more than ten years is always a veteran figure in the spinning circle and can accurately know what kind of yarn he can by just smelling. His friend said that for spinning The old yarn market feels "transparent".

“Cotton prices are around 20,000 yuan/ton, and using cotton to produce a ton of cotton yarn, a good cotton yarn needs about 1.4 tons of cotton. Generally only 1.1 tons to 1.2 tons of cotton are needed, so the price of a ton of cotton yarn is also more than 20,000 yuan. Yuan around." Ren said. For the upstream links such as cotton yarn and grey cloth, the biggest increase in cost is the increase in labor costs. However, because the purchase price of cotton has fallen a lot compared to last year, the increase in labor costs has been offset.

Grad cloth orders drop sharply with little profit

Cotton was made into cotton yarn and flowed into the weaving enterprise. In the weaving workshop of Gaomi Xinghua Fabric Co., Ltd., only one of the nine looms was working and there was only one staff member. “The market situation is not good this year, and there are very few orders. In this case, there is no price or profit at all.” Looking at the deserted workshop, manager Qiu Zhaoguang has many feelings of emotion. When his workshop is the most, he can reach 10 Several people.

Because of the decline in the volume of textile exports, the orders of textile and garment companies in the downstream have decreased, and these fabric companies have been directly affected. During the interview, the reporter found that there were nearly 30 spinning machines in another large-scale weaving factory in Dongying. This year, only 6 were opened. The machines bought here can only be wasted. The company’s responsibility is Zhao Yan told reporters: "If you want to look at the market, then you can only sell the machine."

"No order, who can lose money to open the machine." Said Qiu manager, "We can have a good profit, so we have no profit at the price of clothes. Cotton spinning into a gray fabric, that is, weaving cotton, in the middle There is no loss.” Qiu Zhaoguang, general manager of the company, told reporters that the finished grey cloth can be sent to a garment processing factory after it is sent to a specially shaped enterprise. "If you need dyeing, there is a dyeing process."

For the price of this part of the upstream link, Ren Qiu and Qiu managers did not think there was any increase, obviously can feel is the rise in labor costs, "now workers' wages must be nearly 3,000 yuan, compared to the previous rise in three or four Into it."

It has been revealed that 10% of the profits of transactions between several upstream links are already considered very high. Thus, according to the cotton price, the raw material price for one kilogram of grey cloth is also around 24 yuan, plus a net profit of 10%. As well as labor costs, site fees, etc., the price of one kilogram of grey cloth is also between 30 yuan and 40 yuan.

The downtrend between garment companies pushes up the cloth price again

For the ever-increasing price of clothing, Ren always feels wronged: “We also just drink soup...” Cotton is woven into cloth. According to common sense, these grey cloths should be sent to the garment processing factory for direct processing. However, the fact is not that That's all.

"There will be a lot of commerce companies involved in this," Qiu Zhaoguang told reporters. "These commerce companies have customers of the garment companies in their hands. They buy from our cloth factories, sell them after the price increases, and sell them to their customers. "As a link, commerce and commerce companies are good for weaving companies, and they can save the clerk's expenses. But for these cloths, there is virtually a slight increase in costs.

A piece of cloth, after a few hands down, finally flowed into the garment factory. After the design of the garment factory designers, the processing of ordinary workers became a garment.

"The difference between a weaving factory and a spinning mill is that, as a clothing and textile mill, the manpower required is certainly much more than that of the upstream factory. The labor cost is relatively large. At the same time, the required sites are also larger than those of the upstream enterprises. Under the background of rising rents and labor costs, the cost of clothing production will inevitably increase.” Said the general manager of a textile company in Daocheng City, told reporters.

Taking an ordinary lady's trench coat as an example, the production of this trench coat requires 1 kg of grey cloth. In addition to the increase in labor costs, rents, etc., according to 100% calculation, the price of this trench coat is also around 100 yuan, but now go to the mall. Take a look. There are few windbreakers below 500 yuan, and some big brands have even reached thousands or even ten thousand yuan.

The biggest increase was in the final shopping mall

The end of the chain is the last paragraph of the chain, which is the clothes entering the store. “One-third of the clothing's price tag in the mall is generated when it enters the mall door.” The relevant person said, “The clothes in the shopping mall looks expensive, and the price increase is not because the price of cotton and clothing has gone up, but At the final stage, the cost of entering shopping malls, renting booths, brand promotion fees, and labor costs have pushed up prices."

Mentioned the price of clothes, the public will be the first to think of cotton, in fact, more than 60% of the clothing materials on the market are not from cotton, but chemical fiber. In the signs we purchase clothes, we will mark the number of cotton and the number of polyesters. “Even if some marks are 100% pure cotton, they are not necessarily made from pure cotton. There will be some chemical fibers.” Ren Zongxiang The reporter introduced.

Cotton is a crop, and its annual output is limited. Simply relying on cotton will not satisfy everyone's clothing needs. Chemical fiber has become the main raw material for clothes. “So, the price of clothes can actually have a direct impact on the price of clothes, but the impact of chemical fiber products cannot be ignored.”

This makes it even more difficult for reporters to understand that cotton prices have actually decreased, but it is basically the same as last year's. If 60% comes from chemical fiber, it is mainly oil, coal and other chemical raw materials, and the price of international oil has been declining since this year. in.

Cause blind speculation triggered market chaos

According to Ji Shuqin, deputy secretary-general of the Qingdao Textile and Apparel Industry Association, clothing has indeed risen recently, and labor and raw material costs have accounted for certain reasons. Other factors have also played a role.

During the interview, in the analysis of the phenomenon of cotton fall prices and clothing price increases, many people blamed labor costs on a major cause. “After several labor shortages and price increases, labor costs have increased by 30 compared to the previous two years. From 5% to 50%, it does promote clothing prices to a certain extent.” said the general manager of a textile company in Daocheng.

However, in terms of Ren Zeng, Qiu Zhaoguang and others in the industry, the influence of labor cost factors is indeed larger, but it is not the only reason. Market confusion caused by blind speculation is also a major cause of rising clothing prices. “In recent years, people’s hype is so strong that everything wants to be fired, and agricultural products are almost fired up. Cotton is naturally being fired. Once raw materials and intermediate products are fired, it will definitely cause The confusion in the market has led to an increase in the price of the final product, said Ren.

In the interview, the reporter also learned that some textile enterprises in Daocheng City are using cotton that has been stockpiled at high prices. Although cotton prices have fallen by 40%, in order to maintain capital, they can only be sold at the purchase price. “This is caused by market instability. Phenomenon, business owners can only be passed on to consumers." Ren said.

Of course, the increase in rental prices, as well as brand promotion and other expenses, is also the main reason for the increase in the price of clothes. "Shopping malls and merchants are signing contracts every year, and rents will surely increase with rising house prices," said a clothing store salesman at Daocheng Mall. According to reports, the concept of “false foreign brands” that has stirred up a lot of criticism in the previous stage has also pushed up the price of clothes once again. “A lot of big brands of clothes do better, but a large part of the cost is spent on publicity, that is, the brand. Fees, these fake foreign brands are also making huge brand costs."

Text/graph reporter Ding Hui