Speeches

Brief Situation of Japanese Silk in 2019.

Time:2020-02-13 Source:ISU Secretariat

640.webp.jpg

Mr. Pan Linlong

President of Chuwa Co., Ltd.



Dear chairman, ISU members, and all the friends,

Good afternoon!

I am Pan Linlong from Chuwa. I am very honored to come to Hangzhou to communicate with you about the changeful silk situation in the world at the cold winter but a good time. Some Japanese peers unable to attend the meeting because of temporary cause. Please allow me here to give a brief report on the situation of Japanese silk as a representative.

As to the sericultural production of Japan in 2019, the three seasons of silkworm cocoon in the autumn (early autumn, midautumn and late autumn) was affected by typhoon No.18 and No.19, the silkworm cocoon production of the whole year is expected to drop by 10-12% comparing to that in 2018, and the number of sericulturists also reduces. The concrete data can be figured out at the end of the year. In 2018, the number of sericulturists all around Japan was 293 households, and the silkworm cocoon production was 110 tons, both of which represent a decrease of 70% in comparison with the figures of 1021 households  and 382 tons of 11 years ago. Compared with silkworm cocoon production of a sericulture household, the silkworm cocoon per sericulturist was 374kg in 2008, and 375kg in 2018, which remained almost unchanged during the past 10 years.

As to silk reeling, there are 2 reeling mills of relative large scale and 5-6 mills of small scale in Japan, which produced 300 bags (60kg per bag), namely 18 tons, of raw silk in total in 2018. The raw silk production from January to July of 2019 was 9.6 tons, less than that in the same period last year by 14.9%. The production of raw silk decreases with the reduction of silkworm cocoon production year by year. The current uptime of reeling mill is at an extremely low level (reached 46% in 2018 only). In recent decade years, although the reeling mills are short in cocoon supply, they seldom import silkworm cocoons. This is because the production cost of the existing reeling mills is too high, so that if they import silkworm cocoons for reeling, their prices will become uncompetitive in the international market.

The national production of silk fabrics amounted to 2.12 million square meters in 2018. The production from January to July of 2019 amounts to 1.168 million square meters, representing a decrease of 7.4% comparing to that in the same period last year. On this basis, it is estimated that the annual production of 2019 will be less than that of the last year by 7-8%.

Information on trade of silk goods from January to September (conversion rate between US dollar and Japanese Yen: 1:109)

From January to September, the trade volume of silk of Japan amounts to $ 1.656 billion, representing a year-on-year decrease of 3.2%. Specifically, the amount of imports is $ 1.511 billion, representing a year-on-year decrease of 3.14%; the amount of exports is $ 145 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 3.81%, as below:

The import goods are composed of silk yarn in the amount of $ 56.1632 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 21.3%, in the quantity of 1,068.97 tons (including various raw materials such as raw silk, thrown silk yarn and spun silk), and at the average unit price of 52.5 USD/kg, representing a year-on-year decrease of 13.16%; silks and satins in the amount of $ 92.9787 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 1.31%; and finished products in the amount of $ 1.362 billion, representing a year-on-year decrease of 2.33%.

The main sources of imports include China (in the amount of $ 772 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 7.88% and accounting for 51.08%), Vietnam (in the amount of $ 294 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 9.13% and accounting for 19.45%), Italy (in the amount of $ 88.1204 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 1.5% and accounting for 5.83%), Indonesia (in the amount of  $ 67.3577 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.85% and accounting for 4.46%), and Bangladesh (in the amount of $ 66.83 32 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 28.36% and accounting for 4.42%). The imports from the five countries set forth above together account for 85.24%.

The next part is about two incidents worthy of attention in 2019:

3 large silk goods factories in Gozen (one of the three main producing areas in Japan) announced to stop production at the end of March of 2019 for the staff’s aging, shortage of labors, and long-time price inversion, which has an impact on the inheritance of the production of special kimono fabric with a history of more than 200 years. Besides, the subsequent insufficient processing volume of refineries in the producing areas will brought about new problems. The aging problem of staff (at the age of 65-75 on average) of silk weaving factories will become worse day by day in the following years, and small home factories with less than 10 weaving machines will shut down or stop production at any time. Thus, the production of silks and satins is expected to continue to shrink.

On September 13, 2019, Japan Silk Business Council announced its establishment, Mr. Kobayashi, the incumbent president of the Dainippon Silk Foundation, serve as the president. The Association is established to expand the domestic silk demand of Japan and promote the silk industry. The future focus is to strengthen the collaboration between sericulturists and scientific research institutions, accelerate the research and development of new products and expand product usage. Particularly, efforts should be made to develop new dynamopathic multi-use transgenic silkworms, and establish a new production system in the fields of medical cosmetics and food. By this, the lack of coordination in the silk industry has been changed. It is the first time that the four sectors of agriculture (silkworm breeding to silk making), industry (silk throwing, silk weaving, printing, dyeing and sewing), commerce (sales, trade, import and export) and science (academic researches of scientific research institutions) are integrated to complement each other’s advantages, which is of practical significance.

The last part is about the expectations of Japan’s silk industry on the future of the silk industry:

The first aspect is about the stability of quality and price of imported raw materials. Japan is a country taking much account of silk culture and history in the East Asia. As everyone knows, the empress will feed a batch of silkworms in the silkworm rearing room of the imperial palace in person in the spring every year. The fine KOYISHIMARU silkworm eggs with a history longer than 1000 years are adopted to produce silk, and precious silk souvenirs are made with the silk for sale in big department stores. Meanwhile, relevant information will be released through media, and the empress also will attend important events in kimono for disseminating the silk-related traditional culture and history. Japan is an importing country and consuming country of silk. Moreover, the Japanese government will allocate funds every few years for maintaining the traditional silk-related industries. There are state-level and local-level silk research institutes and silk culture museums in Japan. The reeling mill with a history of 150 years in Tomioka is the only one mill that has been recognized by the UNESCO as world cultural heritage. Thus, the silk-related organizations are concerned about the prices and quality in the international silk market. At present, the consuming quantity of high-grade raw silk of Japan per year is about 1000 tons in total, and that of the European market is about 1200 tons. The demanders for high-grade raw materials require that the quality should be stable in all seasons and the price also should be stable, so that the subsequent links of trade and production can proceed smoothly. A fluctuating market that is liable to cause losses is undesirable. Meanwhile, a reliable inspection system is expected so as to maintain the existence and continuity of high-grade traditional commodities.

The second aspect is about the circulation of silk in future and the problems of the young. Tango, as the largest producing area of woven silk in Japan, is going to usher in the 300th year of kimono silk production in the 2020, when various kimono fabrics will be introduced and presented to the public intensively. Silk enterprises that have been operated by generations with a history of more than 100 years are common in Japan, and many young operators take pride in inheriting their fathers. I was asked by several large silk goods factories if high-grade raw silk websites and online shopping platforms can be built under the recommendation of the International Silk Union while going around. They expressed their wish to share the dynamics of production and quality of relevant enterprises, and directly order the raw materials in demand online, especially raw silk and satins in bulk. They have their own ideas and resonance on China’s unmanned silk production trial and experiment after the age of 5G, the development of computer jet printing, the technology of printing and dyeing, and pattern-related intellectual property and knowledge transmission, etc.

In a word, the international silk industry must try best to figure out the definitions of inheritance, creation and the ancient “only road” of silk. Unremitting efforts and collaborations should be made to advance the sacred cause of silk appropriately and stably.

The above is the brief report. Thank you!