The boycott of Xinjiang cotton by a number of foreign brands has pushed Xinjiang cotton to the forefront. So, is Xinjiang cotton a "human blood steamed bun" referred to by foreign media, or is it a popular "sweet rice cake"?
my country's three major cotton producing areas are located in Xinjiang, , the Yellow River Basin, , and the Yangtze River Basin. The best quality is Xinjiang cotton, which has the characteristics of "long velvet, good quality, and high yield". The towels we usually use are made of several grades of cotton yarn with a fiber length of 27 mm or less, but Xinjiang Cotton can achieve a cotton yarn fiber length of more than 29 mm.
Compared with the other two major producing areas, why is Xinjiang cotton unique?
This is inseparable from the local natural conditions in Xinjiang. The local soil in Xinjiang is alkaline. The temperature difference between morning and evening in summer is very large. Because of the high altitude and sufficient sunshine, photosynthesis is sufficient, which provides unique conditions for cotton long-staple . Of course, this also provides advantages for Xinjiang’s fruits and melons. That’s why there are such folk songs as "Grape Hami from Turpan, fragrant pear from Korla, and pomegranate from Yecheng."
Continue to talk about cotton. Xinjiang cotton is also inseparable from the hard work of our working people. Most of Xinjiang cotton is picked by hand, which greatly protects the integrity of the cotton fiber. Many people here will ask, why not use large-scale centralized mechanized production and it takes time and effort? Because of the special material of cotton, mechanized production cannot well preserve its softness. At the same time, because of Xinjiang's special geographical conditions, mechanized production is not realistic. Therefore, our country generally picks purely by hand, and the cotton picking period is only 40 days. If the picking cannot be completed within this time, it will inevitably affect the quality of cotton. Every time when picking, cotton farmers from neighboring provinces in Xinjiang will pay Xinjiang Kaijin, under these conditions, created Xinjiang’s 37mm super-long cotton. Looking at the world, it is difficult to find a better treasure than Xinjiang cotton.
Xinjiang cotton is so good that our country does not use it, so why export it to other countries?
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the national cotton output in 2020 will be 5.91 million tons, and the Xinjiang cotton output will be 5.2 million tons, accounting for 87% of the total domestic output, a year-on-year increase of 0.4%. The annual output of Xinjiang cotton is still growing, but it is not enough for my country's use. The total annual demand in my country is about 7.8 million tons, and the annual gap is about 1.8 million tons. Therefore, China still needs to import about 2 million tons of cotton every year.
Because of the high quality of Xinjiang cotton, some of it will be used for export. Here are some questions from netizens. Are we all using it ourselves? Economic issues are involved here. For example, your orchard produces 10 high-quality apples. You originally planned to sell 5 apples. The remaining 5 apples will be eaten by yourself, and one of them will be sold for 3 yuan. At this time, someone said Your apples are of good quality, so you can buy them for 5 yuan each. At this time, you sell all the apples to him, but you don’t have enough food when you think about it at home. It just happened that the last time you helped Lao Li’s orchard next door, you bought apples. I went to his house to buy 5 more than I could eat. This time it only cost 1 yuan. So not only did you sell your apples, you also made money for each of them. With the money, you can buy toys for your children.
In layman's terms, cotton is a means for a country to earn foreign exchange through exports, which involves national trade and will inevitably promote the development of the country’s economy.
All in all, Xinjiang's cotton is of high quality, and it has received a high degree of attention both at home and abroad. Xinjiang, as my country's main cotton producing area, even if my country has a huge market demand, it still needs to import cotton from other countries to fill the gap in the market. Today, my country has introduced various measures to ensure the stability of the domestic cotton supply chain, establish a sound cotton reserve system, and provide professional training to cotton farmers to ensure that cotton farmers in Xinjiang have no worries.
