China Cotton Association expresses regret over Uniqlo chief comment

The China Cotton Association has expressed regret over recent comments from the CEO of the company behind Uniqlo and called on relevant companies to resume the use of cotton from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"We are looking forward to relevant companies actively responding to the concerns of Chinese consumers and industry organizations, resuming the use of cotton from Xinjiang, and taking practical actions to maintain the health and stability of the global cotton textile industry," the association said in a statement.

The comments follow a recent report by the BBC quoting Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Fast Retailing Co Ltd, the parent company of Uniqlo, who said that the fast fashion chain does not use cotton from Xinjiang in its products.

Uniqlo has previously said they do not disclose the origins of its raw materials and confirmed that there have been no recent changes to its manufacturing operations.

In response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the hope that relevant companies would resist political pressure and undue interference while making independent business decisions aligned with their own interests.

China remains a critical market for Uniqlo.

With 1,032 stores across the country, including 926 on the Chinese mainland, China ranks as Uniqlo's largest market by store count and second-largest by revenue after Japan.

However, the company has seen slowdown in profit growth.

In the fiscal year 2024 (September 2023 to August 2024), Uniqlo China reported a 9.2 percent increase in revenue, reaching 677 billion yen ($4.5 billion), while operating profit grew slightly by 0.5 percent to 104.8 billion yen. The company anticipates further revenue and profit growth, alongside marginal improvements in operating profit margins in China in 2025.

For fiscal 2025, it plans to open 60 new stores in the country, compared to 54 new openings and 53 closures in fiscal 2024.