On July 4th, the Administrative Office of Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, and Zhejiang Wanli Carbon Fiber Intelligent Equipment Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhejiang Wanli Carbon Fiber") held a signing ceremony for a cooperation agreement. The carbon fiber project with a total investment of 5 billion yuan was officially launched. The implementation of this major cooperation not only injects strong impetus into the development of the new materials industry in Altay Prefecture, but also marks a crucial step for Xinjiang in expanding its industrial boundaries and promoting the upgrading of the textile and new materials industries by leveraging its resource advantages. It once again highlights Xinjiang's unique appeal and development potential as a highland for industrial investment.
The solid foundation of the textile industry
Xinjiang's core competitiveness in the textile industry primarily stems from its irreplaceable resource advantages, especially the scale and quality advantages formed in the cotton industry, which have laid a solid foundation for the development of the entire industrial chain.
As a major cotton-producing area in China, Xinjiang has long held a leading position in the country in terms of cotton output and planting scale. In 2024, the cotton planting area in Xinjiang reached 36.72 million mu, accounting for 86.3% of the total cotton planting area in the country. The total output reached as high as 5.686 million tons, accounting for 92.2% of the national total output. This data indicates that nearly 90% of the cotton in the country comes from Xinjiang. Such a large-scale production capacity provides stable and continuous raw material supply guarantees for textile enterprises, fundamentally avoiding the risk of raw material shortages and allowing enterprises not to worry about "no rice to cook".
What is more worthy of attention is that the quality of cotton in Xinjiang is achieving a leapfrog improvement. In 2024, the proportion of high-quality cotton (double 29A+B and above) in Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps reached 77.35%, a significant increase of 11.92 percentage points compared to 2023. Behind this growth lies the comprehensive optimization of key indicators such as the fineness, maturity, and strength of cotton fibers. High-quality cotton can reduce breakage and improve spinning efficiency during the textile process. The final produced fabric is more resilient and has better luster, and can be widely used in high-end clothing, home textiles and other fields. This "dual excellence in quantity and quality" feature has made Xinjiang cotton a highly sought-after commodity in the eyes of domestic and foreign textile enterprises.
For enterprises, the cotton resources in Xinjiang not only offer quality assurance but also provide a tangible cost advantage. Purchasing raw materials nearby significantly shortens the transportation distance and reduces logistics costs. Calculated based on the transportation cost per ton of cotton, purchasing locally in Xinjiang can save hundreds or even thousands of yuan compared to transporting from other production areas. For large textile enterprises with annual procurement volumes often reaching thousands or tens of thousands of tons, the cumulative cost advantage is considerable. At the same time, large-scale procurement can also obtain more favorable raw material prices, further reducing production costs and enabling enterprises to take the initiative in market competition.
A strong support for industrial development
In addition to its resource advantages, Xinjiang's policy support and geographical location advantages have also provided significant support for the development of the textile and new materials industries, becoming a key factor in attracting enterprises from the mainland to settle down.
In recent years, Xinjiang has continuously introduced special policies to support the development of the textile industry, providing all-round support in aspects such as land supply, tax incentives, talent introduction and technological innovation. For instance, textile enterprises that meet the conditions can enjoy policies such as reduction or exemption of land transfer fees, immediate refund of value-added tax, and social security subsidies, which significantly lower the initial investment and operating costs of the enterprises. Meanwhile, the local government is also actively building industrial park platforms, improving infrastructure such as water, electricity, roads and gas, and providing enterprises with "move-in ready" supporting services, enabling them to start production quickly and operate efficiently.
In terms of location, Xinjiang, as the core area of the "Belt and Road Initiative", enjoys a unique geographical advantage of connecting Central Asia, West Asia and even Europe. With the regular operation of the China-Europe Railway Express, Xinjiang has become an important window for China's opening up to the west. The products produced by textile enterprises here can quickly reach the Central Asian and European markets through convenient land routes, saving nearly half the time compared with traditional sea transportation and significantly improving the efficiency of the supply chain. This geographical advantage of "rooted in the domestic market and radiating to Europe and Asia" provides a broad space for enterprises to expand their international markets.
In addition, Xinjiang's energy advantages also provide a guarantee for the development of the textile industry. The textile industry is a high energy-consuming sector. Xinjiang, however, is rich in energy resources such as coal and oil and gas, with an abundant and relatively low electricity supply, which can effectively reduce the production energy consumption costs of enterprises. Take the spinning process as an example. Electricity costs account for about 15% to 20% of production costs. The electricity price advantage in Xinjiang can enable enterprises to save a large amount of expenses in this process and further enhance their market competitiveness.
An important opportunity for industrial upgrading
The 5-billion-yuan carbon fiber project jointly carried out by Altay and Zhejiang Wanli Carbon Fiber is a vivid practice of Xinjiang relying on its comprehensive advantages such as resources, policies and location to attract high-end manufacturing enterprises to settle down and promote the extension of the industry to the high end of the value chain.
Carbon fiber, as a high-performance new material, features high strength, light weight and corrosion resistance. It is widely used in aerospace, new energy vehicles, high-end equipment manufacturing and other fields, and is an important part of the country's strategic emerging industries. Zhejiang Wanli Carbon Fiber has accumulated profound technical expertise in the field of intelligent equipment manufacturing. The implementation of this project in Altay not only enables it to leverage local resource and policy advantages to reduce production costs, but also creates a synergy effect with Xinjiang's textile industry - the cotton industry provides support for the basic textile industry, while the carbon fiber project expands into the high-end new materials sector. Promote the extension of the industrial chain from "traditional textile" to "high-end manufacturing".
For Altay Prefecture, the implementation of this project will drive local employment, promote industrial structure adjustment, and inject new impetus into regional economic development. After the project is completed, it is expected to form an industrial cluster integrating carbon fiber research and development, production and application, attract upstream and downstream supporting enterprises to gather, and promote the transformation of Altay from a resource output area to an industrial cluster area.
For Xinjiang as a whole, the signing of this project holds more profound significance. It marks that Xinjiang's textile industry is making a leap from traditional cotton spinning processing to the high-end new materials field, with the added value of the industry constantly increasing. This is conducive to changing the past situation of "mainly raw material output and weak processing links", and promoting the transformation of the industry towards high-quality development. Meanwhile, the implementation of the project will also attract more high-quality enterprises to pay attention to and invest in Xinjiang, forming a virtuous cycle of "introducing one, driving a batch, and radiating a region", further consolidating Xinjiang's important position in the national textile and new materials industry.
The signing of this 5-billion-yuan carbon fiber project marks an important milestone in the development of Xinjiang's textile and new materials industry. Relying on multiple advantages such as resources, policies and geographical location, Xinjiang is gradually becoming a hot spot for domestic and foreign textile enterprises to invest and start businesses. In the future, it is bound to play a more important role in promoting the transformation and upgrading of China's textile industry and supporting the construction of the "Belt and Road Initiative".
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