When the production capacity of eastern coastal textiles hits the ceiling of cost and environmental protection, the southwestern border region is becoming the next destination for industrial transfer. On July 21, the Yunnan Bohaitai 60,000-ton annual knitted fabric project officially launched in the Kaiyuan Green Textile Science and Technology Park, with a total investment of 650 million yuan. After reaching full production, it is expected to generate an annual output value of over 1 billion yuan and directly create 1,200 jobs. This is no longer just a signed agreement but a real capital investment landing.
The Logic of Industrial Transfer: From Guangzhou's Zhongda to Kaiyuan, Yunnan The project investor, Delaika Textile, was founded in 2019 in Guangzhou. It is an integrated fabric enterprise covering raw materials, yarn, weaving, dyeing, inspection, and trading, ranking among the top ten fabric traders in the Zhongda Market, with annual sales exceeding 1 billion yuan. The move from a leading fabric trader in Guangzhou's Zhongda Market to a production base in Kaiyuan reflects the reconfiguration of the textile industry chain driven by both cost and market forces.
Kaiyuan's core attraction lies in its energy cost advantage. Abundant local clean energy significantly reduces steam and electricity costs, which is crucial for the dyeing and finishing process that accounts for a high proportion of energy consumption in knitted fabric production. For buyers, this means that fabrics from the southwestern production area may be able to compete head-on with those from the east on price in the future.
Filling the Supply Gap for High-End Knitted Fabrics in the Southwest Dong Shuxiu, Vice President of the China Dyeing and Printing Association, pointed out at the launch ceremony that the textile industry is accelerating its transformation towards green, low-carbon, and intelligent manufacturing, with the southwest being the core area for domestic textile industry transfer. The Bohaitai project plans to build 20 modern intelligent knitted fabric production lines, with an annual output of 60,000 tons of high-end knitted fabric at full capacity, directly filling the gap in high-end knitting capacity in the southwest.
For downstream garment enterprises, especially apparel OEMs located in Southeast Asia, this means a shorter supply chain distance. Leveraging its location near Kunming and the Hekou port, the project can open up both the domestic and Southeast Asian markets. Combined with the RCEP policy dividends, the future industry chain collaboration model of 'fabric from southern Yunnan + garments from Southeast Asia' is moving from concept to reality.
Green and Intelligent: The Standard, Not an Option, for New Capacity It is noteworthy that this project is not a simple capacity replication but benchmarks the latest industry standards. The project explicitly plans to adopt green processes such as low-liquor-ratio dyeing, water reuse, and waste heat recovery, and deploy intelligent management systems like MES and ERP to develop flexible customization and high-value-added fabric manufacturing.
Bai Limin, Deputy Director of the Industrial Park Office of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, analyzed from the perspective of national industrial gradient transfer that the Kaiyuan Green Textile Science and Technology Park is the only industrial park in Yunnan Province with complete textile printing and dyeing capacity. It was integrated into the Hekou Border Industrial Park's overall plan in 2023. Stable, low-cost industrial heat, combined with multiple policy advantages, makes it a high-quality carrier for undertaking industrial transfer from the east. For foreign trade enterprises, this means they can source fabrics that meet international environmental standards from here, directly addressing the supply chain compliance requirements of the European and American markets.
The Key Piece of a 10-Billion-Yuan Industrial Cluster Kaiyuan Mayor Pu Chuanfeng clearly stated that the textile industry is a key industry for enriching the people and a pillar industry for export orientation in Kaiyuan. The Bohaitai project fills the gap in local high-end knitted printing and dyeing capacity and is a critical support for the city's sprint towards a 10-billion-yuan textile industry cluster and new industrialization.
From an industrial ecosystem perspective, a single fabric project is not enough to form a complete industry chain. Bai Limin suggested that the next step is to promote east-west industrial synergy, linking upstream and downstream enterprises from the east to complete the spinning and garment processing links. At the same time, the potential for opening up along the border should be deeply explored to build an industry collaboration of 'fabric from southern Yunnan, garments from Southeast Asia, and sales markets in Europe and America,' achieving dual efficiency in both domestic and foreign trade.