AQSIQ Report: Quality of Imported Cotton in 2014 Is Not Optimistic
On March 30, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine released a white paper titled “Quality Status of Nationwide Imported Cotton in 2014” (hereinafter referred to as the “white paper”) on its official website. The white paper pointed out that the overall quality of imported cotton on arrival in 2014 was not optimistic, and among the four major evaluation indicators for cotton - grade, length, micronaire value and fiber strength - the nonconformity rates for grade, length and strength all increased compared with the same period last year.
The overall quality of imported cotton on arrival in 2014 was not optimistic. Data showed that in terms of the quality of China's imported cotton in 2014, the overall average nonconformity rate for grade was 13.38%, up 1.5% from 2013 (11.88%); the overall average nonconformity rate for length was 4.43%, up 1.7% from 2013 (2.73%); and the overall average nonconformity rate for strength was 3.97%, up 1.23% from 2013 (2.74%). In terms of weight, inspection found that 86.55% of batches were short in weight, with an overall average short-weight rate of 0.96%, up 0.08% from 2013 (0.88%).
It is understood that in 2014, entry-exit inspection and quarantine agencies nationwide inspected a total of 9,415 batches of imported cotton, 2.7584 million tonnes, with a total value of 5.81 billion US dollars; compared with 2013, batches decreased by 37.46%, weight decreased by 33.80%, and value decreased by 31.41%. Due to the narrowing price difference between domestic and imported cotton, the restrictions of imported cotton quotas, and the state's macro-control measure of suspending the transfer of imported cotton into the national reserve, the volume of imported cotton shrank sharply.
Xinhua Food found after review that the quality problems of China's cotton imports in 2014 were mainly concentrated in six aspects: first, cotton from multiple origins and multiple batches was sold in mixed batches, making consistency difficult to guarantee and leading to downgrading; second, the quality difference between the small samples used for sale by sample and the cotton actually delivered was too great; third, non-standard cotton bale packaging caused contamination of the bales and reduced quality; fourth, short weight was serious, and some batches were short-shipped; fifth, there were phenomena such as mixed waste cotton, foreign fibers, mildew and caking; sixth, a small number of overseas suppliers were dishonest and engaged in fraud.
In addition, judging from the distribution of the sources of imported cotton, China's imported cotton mainly came from 40 major cotton-producing countries and regions around the world, including the United States, India, Australia, Uzbekistan, Brazil and Africa. Among them, India, the United States, Australia, Uzbekistan and Brazil were the top five countries for China's cotton imports in 2014, with total import weight accounting for 88.45% of all imports and total value accounting for 88.57% of total imports.
However, judging from the cotton quality of the above import sources, there were quality problems to varying degrees. Through analysis of the cotton situation in various import sources, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine found that US cotton was grayish and yellowish in color, poor in luster, short in length, with more leaf trash, poor ginning, and micronaire values that were too coarse or too fine, while individual batches of cotton had poor strength; the overall quality of Indian cotton was not high, and water spraying was artificially used during the production and processing of lint cotton, so excessively high moisture content often occurred, causing cotton fibers to cake and making mildew and rot highly likely during long storage, and the possibility that a small number of cotton traders adulterated and counterfeited goods could not be ruled out; Australian cotton, long known for excellent quality and good consistency, had a very high grade nonconformity rate in the new cotton arriving in the second half of the year, and affected by rain, its luster was dull and grayish white, with grade clearly worse; Uzbek cotton had too many impurities, gray color and relatively poor ginning quality; cotton from African countries was yellowish in color, and cases where delivery length did not conform to the contract were widespread, with the length nonconformity rate far higher than that of cotton from other countries.
In response to the above nonconforming phenomena, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued claims certificates to the importing countries respectively, and adopted multiple measures such as credit management and inspection on arrival to ensure the quality of imported cotton. Data in the white paper showed that in 2014, China's inspection and quarantine agencies issued a total of 6,708 quality claims certificates to foreign parties, with quality claim amounts of 41.7028 million US dollars; issued 8,148 weight claims certificates to foreign parties, with weight claim amounts of 54.9552 million US dollars; the two items totaled 96.48 million US dollars in foreign claims, accounting for 1.66% of the total import value.