Speech by Secretary-general Liu Wenquan of CSA at

Mr. Liu Wenquan

Secretary-general of China Silk Association

Dear ISU chairman Li, distinguished leaders, guests and silk colleagues,

Good afternoon, it’s my great honor to participate in the ISU Chairman Enlarged Meeting. Firstly, let me on behalf of the Mr. Yang Yongyuan, honorary chairman of ISU, and Mr. Tang Lin, president of China Silk Association, to congratulate the convening of this meeting. Being able to participate in this meeting is really an extremely opportunity for me to learn and communicate with experts and scholars at home and abroad.

Below, I will briefly introduce three aspects, the first is the economic operation of Chinese silk industry from Jan to Sept, 2018; The second is the international silk trade situation; The third is the opinions and suggestions on the future development trends of the world silk industry.

Economic operation of Chinese silk industry from Jan to Sept, 2018

First, let's report a few sets of data:

1. Production of main products

According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics of China, from Jan to Sept, the national raw silk production was 65,488 tons, down 11.09% year-on-year; the production of silk fabrics was 374.99 million meters, up 1.5% year-on-year; the production of silk quilts was 12.23 million, down 1.23% year-on-years.

2. Main economic data

The main business income of 708 enterprises above designated size (excluding silk garment enterprises) was 62.845 billion yuan, down 0.18% year-on-year; the profit was 2.381 billion yuan, up 8.35% year-on-year; the loss of enterprises was 16.38%, of which the loss of the reeling business was 17.2%, and the loss of the weaving business is 14.94%.

3. Market situation of raw silk price

Early January of 2018, the price of 3A grade raw silk in China Cocoon and Silk Exchange was 522,900 yuan/ton, and the price on November 13 was 354,300 yuan/ton, a drop of 32.24%.

From the above data, it can be clearly seen that this year Chinese silk industry is a year of adjustment, raw silk production is declining, industrial economic growth rate is negative for the first time, and due to the continuous decline in raw silk prices, many silk reeling enterprises have suffered serious losses. Enterprises are relatively difficult.

The international silk trade situation

This year, due to the adjustment of China customs statistics system, we have not yet obtained the Chinese silk export data for the first three quarters. We can only use the data released by the US GTA for reference.

1. Turkey. From Jan to Sept, the trade amount of silk was $1.759 billion, decreased 6.47% year-on-year, of which imports from China were $60.55 million, a decrease of 10.42% year-on-year.

2. Thailand. From Jan to Sept, the trade amount of silk was $608 million, increased 15.67% year-on-year, of which imports from China increased by 9.02% year-on-year.

3. Japan. From Jan to Sept, the trade amount was $1.711 billion, increased 7.61% year-on-year, of which imports from China increased by 2.96% year-on-year.

4. Italy. From Jan to Sept, the trade amount was $3.381 billion, increased 10.83% year-on-year, of which imports from China were $278 million, an increase of 6.83% year-on-year.

5. United States. From Jan to Sept, the trade amount was $3.8 billion, increased 0.41% year-on-year, of which imports from China were $1.259 billion, an increase of 2.14% year-on-year.

6. European Union. From Jan to Sept, the trade amount of the EU 28 countries was $8.236 billion, increased 6% year-on-year, of which imports from China were $1.675 billion, an increase of 4.34% year-on-year.

As can be seen from the above data, the import and export trade amount of the world's major silk countries increased slightly in the first three quarters of 2018. Among the countries imported from China, except Turkey, the rest have different growth rates.

Opinions and suggestions on the future development trends of world silk industry

1. The silk industry has entered a high-cost era, and this trend will continue for a long time. In recent years, with the increasing production costs, the price of raw silk will maintain a trend of high volatility, but high cost means high investment and high risk. Accurately judge the production, supply and marketing of raw materials, and effectively prevent price fluctuations, are the keys to the stable and sustainable development of the global silk industry in the future.

2. Inheritance and innovation are the eternal theme of the survival and development of the silk industry. Everyone knows that the silk industry is a traditional industry with a long history of more than 5,000 years, but the silk industry is also a very weak industry. According to statistics, in 2017, global chemical fiber production accounted for 71% of the world's total fiber, and natural fiber 25.43 million tons, accounting for 29%, while the current world raw silk production does not exceed 200,000 tons, accounting for less than 10% of total natural fiber. Therefore, how to intensify innovation on the basis of inheriting the history and culture of silk, including product innovation, technological innovation, management innovation, marketing model innovation, etc., has become an important topic facing the silk industry in various countries. Yesterday, we had the honor to visit the Italian company Ratti, they are leading the world in the development of high-end silk new products, which is worth learning from Chinese silk companies.

3. Strengthening the deep cooperation between the silk industry of all countries and realizing the development of the group is the only way for the future world silk industry. Economic globalization has become a broad consensus. Although the development of the silk industry varies from country to country, various difficulties and problems have been encountered. If we strengthen communication and coordination, learn from each other, we will be able to form a synergy and promote the small industry achieves great results. We are pleased to see that since the establishment of the International Silk Union, they have carried out a lot of fruitful work around the main lines of exchanges and cooperation between the silk industry in the world. More and more national silk colleagues have actively responded and fully recognized. In the future, our China Silk Association will actively participate in the Union work and strive to make greater contributions to building a new world silk pattern that is open, inclusive, complementary, and win-win.