Combed-cotton ring-spun in high demand

Demand for yarn continued to be strong through the first few weeks of November, with combed cotton ring-spun in particularly high demand.

"The ring-spun business remains very strong, fortunately," said one spinner. "Combed cotton ring-spun has very limited availability right now. Several companies in the Western Hemisphere are growing their ring-spinning operations to take advantage of the demand. I really don't see that changing in the near future. Even so, there are still not a lot of companies in the United States that produce combed-cotton ring-spun. In the short-term, there's just not enough combed-cotton ring-spun to go around. That's actually created a pretty good situation for those companies producing the yarn."

Another spinner noted: "I see some producers in Latin America moving toward producing more cotton products. That will alleviate some of the demand pressure eventually, but it's not a quick fix."

Despite the high demand, however, prices are still below where they need to be, one broker said. "It seems like old-hat to be talking about it now, but the price fluctuations in raw materials over the past couple of years still makes customers wary. A number of them were stuck with high-priced orders when the bottom fell out of cotton prices. They still want us to sell to them at unrealistically low prices. A lot of us can't even make yarn at the prices they want to pay."

With demand such as it is, spinners need to pay careful attention to customer relationships, said one industry insider. "We've worked hard over the past decade to get back some of the business that had previously gone to Asia. We've built our niche upon quality and quick-turn. But if our customers can't get the product they need from us, they will go elsewhere. It becomes really important to make sure customer relationship management is a top priority."

Added another spinner: "The dynamics of the ring-spun market have placed a premium on communication. The capacity versus demand deficit, paired with limited inventories, has resulted in various scheduling challenges for our customers. The ability to understand these complications and our capability to offer solutions has been an important component of customer service."

He added, "The retail prospects determine the demand for the textile environment. Currently, the market opportunities promote ring-spun product. It is important that these requirements are fulfilled in order for the momentum for Western Hemisphere sourcing to be maintained. Communication, understanding, and responsiveness are required to maintain the momentum."

Cotton Prices Continue To Fall
Although considerably more stable than in the past year, cotton prices continue to fall, broken only by occasional week-to-week increases. For example, for the week ended November 15, prices averaged 67.27 cents per pound, up from 65.41 cents per pound the previous week, but down from 70.70 cents per pound in late September and 97.30 cents per pound from the same week of November a year ago.