A new 400,000-spindle spinning capacity has come online in Xinjiang's Alar city, equivalent to the annual output of a medium-sized textile park. In July 2026, the industrial upgrade demonstration project of Alar Zhongtai United Textile Co., Ltd. started production, completing plant renovation and equipment installation in just 12 months—a pace rarely seen in similar projects.
For the industry, this is not a simple capacity addition. It directly addresses a long-standing weakness in Xinjiang's cotton textile chain: the supply gap in the spinning segment. In recent years, Xinjiang has produced over 90% of China's cotton, but spinning capacity has not kept pace, forcing much of the raw material to be shipped out. This Alar project aims to keep more processing steps local.
Background
The project began in June 2025, with local state-owned platform Xinxin Group acting as the plant supplier, retrofitting existing facilities for Alar Zhongtai United Textile. Renovation focused on ceiling height, floor load capacity, and utility connections—parameters critical for installing blowroom-carding units and vortex spinning machines.
Equipment selection reveals the technological direction: blowroom-carding is a traditional ring-spinning pre-process, while Japanese Murata vortex spinning represents a short-flow, high-speed route. Combining both in one plant means the line can produce conventional ring-spun yarns as well as vortex-spun core-spun and high-count varieties. From October to November 2025, bidding for installation and commissioning of core equipment began, with the asset management company ensuring seamless coordination between plant delivery and machine setup.
Timeline-wise, this project advanced far faster than similar ones in Xinjiang. A typical 400,000-spindle spinning mill takes 18 to 24 months from groundbreaking to production, but the Alar project compressed this to 12 months by leveraging existing factory buildings, eliminating the construction cycle.
Industry Impact
The release of 400,000 spindles directly strengthens Alar's spinning supply capacity. Industry estimates suggest such capacity can produce about 50,000 to 60,000 tons of cotton yarn annually, equivalent to a mid-sized spinner. This will create a raw material proximity advantage for nearby weaving, dyeing, and garment factories.
More importantly, it triggers upstream and downstream clustering. A spinning mill is the hub of the cotton textile chain—linking upstream cotton processing and trading with downstream weaving, dyeing, and apparel. A 400,000-spindle base can support a supporting industrial cluster within a 50-100 km radius. Xinjiang has long pushed to extend its textile and garment chain downstream, but progress has been slow due to insufficient spinning capacity. The Alar project may become a catalyst for local chain extension.
For the equipment market, the signal is clear. The large-scale adoption of Japanese Murata vortex spinning reflects Xinjiang mills' preference for high-speed, automated technology. Vortex spinning reduces labor by about 60% and energy consumption by about 30% compared to ring spinning. As labor costs rise and environmental pressure mounts in Xinjiang, this technology route is becoming the mainstream choice for new capacity.