China : Wool imports strongly increases in March

Consolidated data show that China's wool and top imports rebounded strongly in March, reaching a record volume totalling 34.5 mkg clean, and up strongly year-on-year. The top three wool suppliers by country were Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay.

China's wool imports from Australia increased strongly year-on-year in March, allowing Australia to retain top supplier status. New Zealand again replaced Uruguay as the second largest supplier for China's wool imports, but still reported a decline year-on-year - the seventh consecutive decline since September 2006.

This decline could be the result of anecdotal reports of recent increases in the use of other fibres in China for carpet making, especially acrylic blends and higher usage of domestically grown wool fibre. Imports from the third largest supplier, Uruguay reported a very solid gain year-on-year during this month.

By category, greasy wool remained the major form of wool imported into China in March. Imports for scoured wool were up and carbonised wool were down. Top has gradually lost its position in China's wool imports as China has become the world's largest early stage wool processor.
 
Australian Wool Innovation Limited