China’s imports of hemp bast fiber were cut in half in 2025 after a steep rise over the previous few years, signaling some volatility in the world’s most important market for hemp textile raw materials.
According to Chinese customs figures, the country imported 44,370 metric tons of hemp fiber in 2025, down from 92,744 tons in 2024, a decline of 52.16%.
“The sharp decline in the import quantity of hemp is related to the significant increase in the planting area of hemp in Northeast China in 2024,” which boosted domestic raw-material availability for 2025, according to SunSirs, a Chinese analyst that tracks commodities.
Demand shift
The drop matters because China is the market-moving buyer of hemp bast fiber used in spinning, blended yarns and textile conversion. Publicly cited trade figures indicate imports rose from just 837 tons in 2020 to tens of thousands of tons by 2023-2025 – as Chinese mills leaned more heavily on imported supply to complement domestic production.
The sharp reversal now points to a market that can change quickly depending on domestic acreage, competing fibers and downstream textile demand, the analyst said.
France leads
SunSirs also cited a strong 2024 flax harvest in Europe, which could be a factor in China’s hemp fiber import dip last year, because flax and hemp compete in some overlapping natural-fiber channels. Mills can switch purchases based on price, quality and availability, according to the SunSirs report.
The figures suggest France has strengthened its position as the main European gateway into China’s hemp-fiber market, with French producers supplying 74.29% of China’s imports in 2025, up from 63.66% in 2024. Belgium, the next largest single importer to China, fell to 3.26% from 19.73% a year earlier. Other main suppliers over the past two years were Russia, Netherlands and Ukraine.
As far back as 2020, China agreed to purchase an unspecified amount of hemp fiber from the United States as part of a total $12.5 billion agriculture trade deal, but there is little to indicate any significant trade took place as U.S. producers were simply not set up to produce any significant volume of fiber.
Export side
Even as fiber imports fell last year, China remains the world’s biggest exporter of higher-value hemp goods, with more than 3,500 tons of hemp yarn products and over 16 million meters of hemp fabrics shipped abroad last. Fibers, yarns, fabrics and finished goods totaled $2.018 billion in 2025, down 15.23% from 2024, SunSirs said.
Exports reached nearly 200 countries, with major markets across Asia and in Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United States.
Exports to the United States rose 1.75% year over year, though no bilateral dollar value was reported. “In the face of such a changeable U.S. tariff policy, the growth of exports to the United States still reflects the rigid demand for hemp textile products in the U.S. market to some extent,” SunSirs said.
Among hemp textile shipments to the U.S., fabrics accounted for 33.19% and finished products 66.81%.