On August 28, cotton yarn quotes from several Shandong mills revealed a key signal: the price spread between 21S and 32S high-grade knitting yarns has widened to 1600-2000 RMB/ton, compared to around 1000 RMB/ton a year earlier. This divergence is not accidental—it reflects structural changes in downstream demand, with 32S, a mainstay for knitted apparel, showing stronger resilience than 21S. This shift will directly reshape spinners' production planning and buyers' sourcing strategies.
Behind the Quotes
Looking at specific quotes, 21S high-grade ring-spun knitting yarn ranged from 22,800 to 24,200 RMB/ton across Shandong. Guanxing Textile offered the lowest at 22,800, while Weifang Guanjie quoted as high as 24,200, a gap of 1,400 RMB/ton. For 32S, quotes ranged from 24,700 to 26,400, with Shandong Hongyang Chemical at the top and Guanxing again at the bottom, a 1,700 RMB spread. These intra-yarn differences highlight varying inventory costs, order books, and financial pressures among mills.
Notably, the lower bound for 32S (24,700) is approaching the upper bound for 21S (24,200), indicating that 32S is gaining premium pricing power in the high-end knitting segment. For buyers, if orders are 32S-heavy, this spread may signal rising costs; for spinners, 32S offers better margins, but only if they can secure stable supplies of high-grade cotton.
Industrial Belt Response and Cost Pass-Through
Shandong is a major cotton yarn production base, and its quotes serve as a bellwether for the national market. In this round, Weifang-based mills—including Guanjie, Jinyi, and Runfengda—dominated the list with relatively clustered quotes, while Guanxing, based in Liaocheng, priced significantly lower. This regional gap suggests Weifang spinners may be positioned toward higher-end products, while Guanxing likely competes on cost efficiency to capture market share.
From the cost side, ring-spun high-grade yarn demands better cotton quality, and recent volatility in Xinjiang and imported cotton prices has heightened cost uncertainty. The widening 21S-32S spread partly stems from 32S requiring finer yarn, which demands longer and stronger cotton fibers, raising raw material costs. If cotton prices continue to climb, 32S may see greater price elasticity than 21S, potentially widening the spread further.
Impact on Sourcing and Foreign Trade
For downstream weaving and apparel companies, current quotes offer two operational windows: if orders are 21S-heavy, they can negotiate with low-cost mills like Guanxing to reduce material costs; if 32S-heavy, they should hedge against price increases by locking orders early. For foreign trade firms, overseas demand for 32S high-grade yarn remains relatively stable, but currency fluctuations and shipping costs remain variables.
From an industry perspective, this quote divergence is not an isolated event. National Bureau of Statistics data show that from January to July 2026, profits of above-scale textile enterprises grew about 4% year-on-year, but small and medium firms' margins lagged larger players. Under high cotton prices and demand divergence, spinners' pricing strategies will become more flexible, and buyers must manage supplier structures more carefully to avoid single-source risks.