Antai Textile: Over Three Decades of Innovation Leadership, Acrylic Yarn Ignites New Hope for Textile Recovery

In Zhangjiagang, on the banks of the Yangtze River, the summer sun scorches the earth and also ignites hope for the recovery of the textile industry. Founded in 1993, Antai Textile, a modern textile enterprise with a history of over three decades, is moving steadily forward in the complex and ever-changing market environment with its keen market insight and stable production operations. Recently, an in-depth exchange between Li Xiong, Marketing Manager, and Factory Director Huang from the Production Department vividly depicted how Antai Textile transforms industry dynamics into development momentum.

"Manager Li, look at the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. From January to April, the yarn output of above-scale textile enterprises increased by 7.0% year-on-year. This figure is very encouraging!" Factory Director Huang walked quickly into Li Xiong's office holding the freshly printed industry report. Li Xiong put down the analysis data on imported cotton inventory in his hand, took the report, and studied it carefully. "Indeed, Factory Director Huang. The growth in yarn output, especially combined with the 3.4% year-on-year increase in industrial added value of above-scale textile enterprises in the first five months, indicates that downstream demand is gradually picking up and market confidence is recovering." He pointed to the chart in the report and continued, "However, we should also note that operating income and total profits are still declining year-on-year, which means the industry as a whole still faces considerable cost pressures and competitive challenges. For us at Antai Textile, this is both an opportunity and a test."

The imported cotton inventory data that Li Xiong is focusing on has been a hot topic in the market recently. As of July 3rd, the inventory of imported cotton at major national ports has continued to decline, with the inventory of imported cotton at Zhangjiagang Port and surrounding warehouses in Jiangsu Province being approximately 40,500 tons. As a local enterprise rooted in Zhangjiagang, Antai Textile is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in the local raw material market. "The decline in imported cotton inventory, on the one hand, reflects the consumption of previous purchases; on the other hand, it may also indicate certain support for subsequent cotton prices. However, our main products at Antai are acrylic yarn, acrylic tops, colored acrylic tops, and various fancy yarns, which gives us greater flexibility in raw material selection and we are not completely dependent on cotton," Li Xiong explained. "Especially in the current situation where cotton prices are uncertain, our acrylic series products are gaining more and more customers' favor due to their excellent warmth retention, bright color, and easy care properties."

The topic quickly shifted to the production link. Factory Director Huang knows well that stable production and continuous process optimization are the cornerstones of responding to market changes. "Speaking of costs, we have been closely monitoring the recent price fluctuations of acrylonitrile," Factory Director Huang mentioned. "On July 7th, the acrylonitrile unit of Shandong Haijiang was temporarily shut down for maintenance, and on the same day, Lihuayi's spot quotation for acrylonitrile was reduced by 50 yuan/ton. As the main raw material for our acrylic fiber production, the price fluctuation of acrylonitrile directly affects our production costs. Our production department has linked up with the purchasing department to adjust the purchasing strategy in a timely manner according to market conditions. At the same time, we are also striving to digest the impact of raw material price fluctuations through lean production and optimization of process parameters to ensure the cost-performance advantage of our products."

In the face of the growing market demand for differentiated and high value-added products, Antai Textile has long laid out its plans. "You see, the textile manufacturing index has performed well recently, rising by 2.96% from July 7th to 11th, outperforming the market by a lot. Behind this is the market's recognition of high-quality textile enterprises and innovative products," Li Xiong added. "Our colored acrylic tops and fancy yarns are precisely in line with the current trend of personalized and fashionable clothing fabrics. Many downstream customers have feedback that using our colored acrylic tops can directly eliminate the dyeing process, which not only reduces their production costs but is also more environmentally friendly. Moreover, the various fancy yarns we have developed provide designers with rich creative materials, helping them create more market-competitive clothing products. This is exactly the embodiment of our Antai Textile's philosophy of 'Seeking Development through Innovation, Winning Market with Quality'."

Factory Director Huang deeply agreed: "Yes, Manager Li. Our production department has been working hard to improve the production capacity and quality of these high value-added products. Aiming at the color consistency and color fastness of colored acrylic tops, we have introduced advanced color matching and dyeing equipment and established a strict quality control system. For fancy yarns, our technical team is also continuously developing new patterns and processes to ensure that our products are always at the forefront of the market." He paused and said proudly, "Recently, a batch of orders using our new fancy yarns has been successfully delivered, and customer feedback is very good. This is the greatest affirmation of our work."

From 1993 to 2025, Antai Textile has witnessed the ups and downs of China's textile industry. Today, facing new market opportunities and challenges, the Antai people represented by Li Xiong and Factory Director Huang are leading Antai Textile to move steadily forward in the acrylic yarn field with their profound understanding of market trends, meticulous refinement of production processes, and unremitting pursuit of product innovation. They believe that as long as they adhere to customer-centricity, market orientation, and continuously enhance core competitiveness, Antai Textile will surely write a more brilliant chapter in the magnificent wave of textile industry development and contribute its own strength to the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.