Chifeng: Brand building turns "soft gold" into real gold

The world looks to China for cashmere, and China looks to Inner Mongolia for cashmere. In Chifeng, the hometown of Yulong, relying on the high-quality germplasm resources of Hanshan white cashmere goats, Chifeng is promoting the creation of the Eastern Inner Mongolia cashmere industry cluster, making its "sheep" famous all over the world and its "cashmere" famous all over the world.

Cashmere is a precious textile raw material, known as the "diamond of fiber" and "soft gold", and is also recognized as a high-end textile raw material "chip". In focusing on the "chip" of breeding fine varieties, Balin Youqi, the main production area of Hanshan white cashmere goats, has promoted the "chip" track into a "hot period" by carrying out variety protection, production performance testing and breeding research.

At the Chifeng Hanshan White Cashmere Goat Breeding Farm, a lively scene greets the eyes. The breeders and technicians are working hard, and the sheep running in the sheepfold are full of energy.

"The cashmere on the Chifeng Hanshan white cashmere goats is very elastic, and is thin, light, soft, smooth, warm, and has a natural soft color." Liu Shucai, director of the Chifeng Hanshan White Cashmere Goat Breeding Farm, said that the breeding farm currently has more than 2,000 purebred Hanshan white cashmere goats. In the future, it will form a core breeding group of three high-quality breeding sheep. At the same time, it will cooperate with 20 cashmere goat breeders to implement high-quality cashmere goat breeding, so that the high-breeding ewes will reach more than 50,000.

"Having a breeding farm alone is not enough. The surrounding sumu towns will establish 20 breeding households to pilot the protection of Hanshan white cashmere goats and the development and construction of cashmere products." Liu Shucai said that the breeding of Hanshan white cashmere goats will be promoted to all sumu towns in the banner, with the scale maintained at 400,000, forming a local Hanshan cashmere goat variety industry cluster in Balin Youqi.

Only by empowering the cashmere industry with science and technology can cashmere products be at the forefront of green, technology and fashion. This summer, the Chifeng Hanshan White Cashmere Goat High-Quality Development Conference was held in Bayantala Sumu, Balin Youqi. The awarding ceremony of the Balin Youqi Sheep Technology Courtyard jointly built by China Agricultural University and Chifeng Hanshan White Cashmere Goat Breeding Farm became a highlight of the event.

"The science and technology courtyard can encourage industrial technological innovation and the production and application of scientific research results by providing R&D facilities, resource support and expert guidance, promote the integration of industry, academia and research, and improve the development level of the sheep industry." Chen Fanjun, director of the Training Department of the Graduate School of China Agricultural University, said that the close connection between science and technology and production can bring greater economic benefits to animal husbandry.

From the transformation of Hanshan white cashmere goats to cashmere, the "Chifeng Cashmere" brand has gradually become famous. At the 10th Inner Mongolia Brand Conference in 2023, "Chifeng Cashmere" was listed as one of the well-known (top 100) brands in Inner Mongolia with a brand value of 6.231 billion yuan, and the "Chifeng Cashmere" brand won the Inner Mongolia well-known regional public brand.

In early autumn, in the production workshop of Chifeng Dongli Cashmere Co., Ltd., the core enterprise of "Chifeng Cashmere", workers are combing the cashmere after manual sorting and washing. The combed cashmere will become the raw material for the production of export orders.

E-commerce live streaming is a shortcut to promote the popularity of cashmere brands. Dongli Cashmere has become one of the star brands on the Douyin e-commerce platform and once topped the live streaming sales champion of cashmere products. Domestic e-commerce sales increased from 10 million yuan in 2021 to 135 million yuan in 2023, and the domestic market share increased to 25%. The domestic market prospects are broad.

"The cashmere industry is a traditional textile industry. Only by using new thinking, new concepts and new initiatives to achieve sustainable development can enterprises maintain their leading position in the fierce market competition." Cheng Xudong, chairman of Dongli Cashmere, said that Dongli Cashmere will adhere to the goal of expanding quantity, improving quality, increasing output, maintaining advantages, making up for shortcomings, and strengthening weaknesses. It will actively promote the high-quality development of the entire cashmere industry chain and strive to contribute to the creation of a 10 billion-level cashmere industry in Chifeng.

Up to now, there are 6 key leading enterprises in the cashmere industry at or above the Chifeng municipal level, 11 wool and leather processing enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan, producing and processing more than 1.2 million cashmere sweaters and other cashmere products, realizing an output value of 1.524 billion yuan, and earning 88.93 million US dollars from the export of cashmere products.

The Chifeng Mengdong cashmere industry cluster has taken shape, and has now formed five cashmere industry processing clusters in Hongshan District, Songshan District, Balin Right Banner, Alukeerqin Banner and Linxi County. Several well-known cashmere product brands such as "Dongli" have been created, and the overall influence of the industry and the reputation of the products continue to rise.

On April 28, the "Several Measures for the Revitalization of the Cashmere Industry in Chifeng City" was officially promulgated, planning the future development of Chifeng's cashmere industry from four aspects: cashmere goat breeding improvement project, scientific and technological innovation and standardized production, improving forage supply guarantee capabilities, and comprehensively promoting industrialized operations. It will focus on promoting the increase in production, expansion and quality of high-quality cashmere goats, building a high-quality cashmere goat seed source base and breeding base, and creating an eastern Mongolia cashmere industry cluster, injecting an inexhaustible source of strong momentum into Chifeng's high-quality development. (Reporter Xiao Lu)