China's Focus Shifts from Quantity to Qu

摘要

As the world's largest textile maker, China plays a leading role in world cotton consumption. According to USDA's world cotton supply and demand estimates from December 2011, annual average cotton consumption in China during the last live years was 10.49 million tons, accounting for 41% of the worlds total. To better understand the trends in China's cotton consumption, it is necessary to understand the development of the textile manufacturing industry in China. Analysis of the following seven factorsmakes us believe that cotton consumption in China has passed its high point. I. Labor supply. China's textile industry is labor intensive. Its development is dependent, to a large extent, on labor supply. With increasing urbanization and wages, China'slabor cost advantage is losing ground. At the end of 2010, 30 provinces (or province-level municipalities) in China have raised their wage floors. The highest level is in Shanghai at $177.50 per month and the lowest is in Ningxia at $112.50 per month. Since 2011, 35 provinces have raised their wage floors. According to a World Bank forecast, the new labor force in 2015 will decrease by 10% from 2005, and labor supply will be considerably tight.