Rising costs for textile companies in Asia are prompting an upturn in cotton spinning – converting raw cotton into yarn – in the U.S. South, says the New York Times. “It is part of a blurring of once seemingly clear-cut boundaries between high- and low-cost manufacturing nations that few would have predicted a decade ago.” Wages and energy prices are rising in Asia, while U.S. localities offer inducements such as tax breaks and low-cost land. One consulting company says China has only a small advantage over the United States in textile manufacturing.
A textile expert at the University of Rhode Island told the Times that cotton spinning, which is highly automated and relies on expensive machinery, is an arena in which U.S. plants are becoming increasingly competitive. But manual labor is needed for cutting fabric and sewing clothes so “it’s just impossible for the United States to be competitive.” Besides China, companies from India and Brazil have chosen U.S. locations for plants.
The United States is one of the world’s largest cotton growers and exports around three-fourths of its crop now that the domestic textile industry has withered. A generation ago, more than half of the American cotton crop went to domestic mills.