Global raw silk trade expected to decline: TexPro

The global import of raw silk was $372.35 million in 2016, which increased by 9.49 per cent to $407.69 million in 2018. The overall import of raw silk surged by 4.76 per cent in 2018 over the previous year, and is anticipated to reach $383.22 million in 2021 with a drop of 6.00 per cent from 2018, according to Fibre2Fashion's market analysis tool TexPro.

In terms of volume, the global import of raw silk was 8.24 thousand tonnes in 2016, which fell to 6.89 thousand tonnes in 2018 with a negative growth rate of 16.32 per cent. Overall import of raw silk also dropped 9.76 per cent in 2018 over the import of raw silk in 2017, and is forecast to stand at 6.48 thousand tonnes in 2021 with a decline of 6.00 per cent from 2018.

In 2018, China (4,580.82 tonnes), Italy (479.02 tonnes), Romania (131.65 tonnes), Thailand (75.18 tonnes) and Germany (60.93 tonnes) were the key importers of raw silk across the globe, together comprising 97.32 per cent of total imports. These were followed by Australia (50.00 tonnes), Turkey (46.21 tonnes) and Bulgaria (11.42 tonnes).

From 2013 to 2018, the most notable rate of growth in terms of import, amongst the main importing countries, was attained by Australia (892.06 per cent), Italy (38.28 per cent) and Romania (12.47 per cent).

In value terms, China ($290.83 million), Italy ($32.37 million), Romania ($10.11 million) and Thailand ($4.50 million) were the key importers of raw silk across the globe in 2018, together comprising 98.20 per cent of total import. These were followed by Germany ($3.43 million), Bulgaria ($0.53 million), Singapore ($0.52 million) and Slovenia ($0.39 million).

From 2013 to 2018, the most notable rate of growth in terms of import, amongst the main importing countries, was attained by Italy (57.21 per cent) and Romania (32.97 per cent).

ALCHEMPro News Desk (RKS)