County in SE China’s Fujian builds complete textile industrial chain

Workers work at the smart factory of Liurong Industry Co., Ltd. in Youxi county, Sanming city, southeast China’s Fujian Province. (People’s Daily Online/Li Weiyi)

A chemical fiber company in Youxi county, Sanming city, southeast China’s Fujian Province has unveiled its flagship product: porous fine denier fiber, which is ideal for producing intimate apparel.

The company, Fujian Xinsen Synthetic Fiber Technology Co., Ltd. (Xinsen Synthetic), has risen to become the fifth-largest producer in China and the sixth globally in terms of production capacity.

Adjacent to Xinsen Synthetic’s plant, a project of Liurong Industry Co., Ltd. (Liurong Industry) is under construction. Liurong Industry’s 10,000-square-meter garment workshop started production in 2023. Both Xinsen Synthetic and Liurong Industry are subsidiaries of Fujian Mingcan Group.

“Upon completion of the project, we will ensure a complete industrial chain from fiber spinning to garment manufacturing in Youxi,” said Chen Jingwei, vice president of the group and president of Liurong Industry.

The Liurong Industry project is a key project introduced to the Youxi Party committee from Shanghai. Its vertically integrated smart factory is the first attempt at such a project globally for the knitting and composite fiber industry.

Before the Liurong Industry project was commissioned, Xinsen Synthetic produced nylon fibers, and Fujian MingCan Group did not have garment manufacturing capabilities within the province. Taking advantage of the cooperation opportunities between Shanghai and Sanming, and responding to the call for “filling, extending, and strengthening the industrial chain,” Fujian MingCan Group invested 3.5 billion yuan ($487.9 million) to build the Liurong Industry project.

Workers work at a workshop of Fujian Xinsen Synthetic Fiber Technology Co., Ltd. in Youxi county, Sanming city, southeast China’s Fujian Province. (People’s Daily Online/Li Weiyi)

According to plans, the project covers approximately 350,000 square meters, and once fully operational, it will produce over 100 million garments annually, achieving an annual output value of 5 billion yuan and providing employment opportunities for 5,000 workers.

From yarn to finished garments, vertically integrated production connects the entire industrial chain. In the past, companies needed to purchase raw materials from other cities within the province. The yarn would then be spun in Youxi, woven and dyed in Fuqing, and finally processed in garment factories in Jiangsu Province or Guangdong Province.

Vertical integration will also allow for reductions in packaging waste, transportation costs, and energy consumption. Quality inspection can be combined as well, increasing efficiency.

The textile industry is Youxi’s largest pillar industry and is the area’s first industrial chain to reach 10 billion yuan in value. In the first half of this year, the output value of 57 textile enterprises above designated size in the county reached 7.87 billion yuan, up 7.9 percent year-on-year.

Luo Shaotang, director of the bureau of industry and information technology of Youxi county, emphasized the county’s commitment to supporting leading enterprises and promoting cooperation among upstream and downstream enterprises in the textile industry.