On October 30th, at the warehouse of Ocean Feather Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Ocean Feather) in Lu'an City, Anhui Province, this bag of goose down is worth 20000 yuan. This warehouse is neatly stacked with a large amount of pre packaged goose down, each bag weighing 20 kilograms.

In a little while, these bagged goose down will be loaded onto trucks and sent away. This car can hold 4 tons of goose down when fully loaded, "the staff calculated. If a down jacket is filled with 150 grams of goose down and losses are deducted, this car of goose down can make approximately 25000 down jackets.

100 kilograms of raw materials produce 13 kilograms of finished products

In the golden autumn of October, it is the harvest season for the "Wanxi White Goose" breeders in Yu'an District, Lu'an City. After the geese are slaughtered uniformly, the goose meat is processed into delicious food, and the down is bagged and waiting to be pulled by trucks to the down factory.

Jiang Weijun, the person in charge of Anhui Zhanyu Ecological Agriculture Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhanyu Ecology), introduced to China News Network that "Wanxi White Goose" is a national level livestock and poultry genetic resource protection list variety. Goose meat is rich in nutrients, and the breeding cycle can last up to 8 months. It is usually slaughtered in autumn. This variety has a large body shape, is snow-white throughout, and has high fluffiness and a large amount of down, making it highly favored by high-end down jacket brands.

Yu'an District of Lu'an City is the main production area of "Wanxi White Goose", and the local goose feathers are in high demand. After harvesting down, local enterprises will "digest it on site" and even have no surplus to sell to other places for goose seedlings supplied by Zhanyu Ecological.

Jiang Weijun said, "Our farmers can produce 3-4 tons of goose feathers per year. The revenue from selling goose feathers this year has more than doubled compared to 2023. Last year, the revenue from goose feathers was around 40 yuan, and this year it can reach 85 yuan

According to data from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau of Lu'an City, in the first quarter of this year, the number of white geese raised and sold in Lu'an City was 9.75 million and 3.16 million respectively, an increase of 13.95% and 10.17% year-on-year.

Anhui Xingbao Down Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Xingbao Down) is located in Shucheng County, Lu'an City. The total investment of the company's park is 700 million yuan, with a total of 8 large-scale washing and drying lines. The park was put into trial production in May this year, and after full production, it can achieve an annual output value of 1.5 billion yuan. It mainly produces high-end white duck down and white goose down with a velvet content of over 90%. Currently, a national level inspection laboratory is being built to ensure production stability.

According to China News Service, nearly 10 tons of raw material wool arrive at Xingbao Down every day. In addition to the local area of Lu'an, the raw material wool production areas also include Guigang in Guangxi and Taiqian in Henan. The raw material is a mixture of feathers and down, which requires a series of treatments to become fillable down.

The interviewee provided a picture of the high velvet machine used for separating feathers in Xingbao Down Factory

There are actually very few available fluff fibers in the raw material wool. Only 100 kilograms of raw material wool can produce 13 kilograms of finished down. In order to reduce the breakage rate, how to accurately separate the wool, how to match the detergent and process to achieve the highest finished product rate, etc., all rely on the long-term experience accumulation of the production party, "said Wang Kui, President of Xingbao Down.

Due to the recent operation of the new park, Wang Kui predicts that the park's output value will exceed 100 million yuan this year and will see a significant increase next year. In 2023, Anhui Yulong Down Apparel Group Co., Ltd., to which Xingbao Down belongs, has a total output value of over 1 billion yuan and a production capacity of 5000 tons.

According to Wang Kui, the production process of down feathers includes hair separation, washing, dehydration, drying, etc., among which the most important steps are hair separation and washing. Hair separation is the process of using a 26.5-meter high velvet machine to blow up the feathers, separating the hair stems and impurities in the raw material, and obtaining useful down. The higher the down, the better the quality. Water washing is the use of specialized down detergent to remove down odor, oil, etc., usually requiring 7-14 washes.

The cost composition of a down enterprise includes not only down raw materials, but also water, electricity, and gas. To achieve green production, Xingbao Down has invested nearly 50 million yuan to build a sewage treatment plant to achieve water resource recycling, with a daily sewage treatment capacity of up to 15000 tons, and is considering building a photovoltaic power generation system next year.

Can down still prevent fire?

The technology behind a small down feather is not low. Since the beginning of this year, Lu'an has vigorously implemented the action of "increasing varieties, improving quality, and creating brands" in the down and feather industry, and has produced a batch of new products with high technological content in recent years.

Ocean Feather was selected as a "Little Giant" enterprise by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2022. Zhang Wenjun, Executive Vice General Manager of Ocean Feathers, showed a video to China News Network showing two clusters of down feathers. One cluster was quickly ignited and burned by a lighter, while the other cluster never caught fire.

Zhang Wenjun introduced that this is their latest flame retardant down, which has just reached the level of mass production this year and will be used in special industries such as firefighting and outdoor products in the future. In addition to flame-retardant down, Ocean Feather has also developed multiple innovative down products such as anti-static down, waterproof down, colored down, and fragrant down. During the product display area, Zhongxin Jingwei discovered that the fragrant down, which has been on display for three years, still has a noticeable aroma.

The innovative down products we have launched are currently selling well and are widely used in high-end brands, "said Zhang Wenjun.

The above-mentioned emerging products all come from the innovative research and development center of ocean feathers. The center collaborates with research institutes and universities such as Hefei Institute of Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jiangnan University, and Wanxi University, and currently holds 13 authorized invention patents and 35 utility model patents. According to Zhang Wenjun, Ocean Feather invests over 10 million yuan annually in research and development, and mobilizes the company's collective participation in innovation. All employees can propose ideas and receive cash rewards regardless of whether they are adopted or not.

In recent years, domestic down jacket brands have been selling well, and various down jacket companies in Lu'an have also experienced this.

Now we mainly focus on domestic sales, and our partners are all listed companies, "Zhang Wenjun said." Our sales performance in the Chinese domestic market is expected to double this year

Wang Kui also told China News Network: "Currently, the company mainly sells domestically in China. The demand for down is like a curve, with ups and downs, but the overall trend is upward, and sometimes there is a shortage of supply

Ocean feather goose down sample provided by respondents

According to a report released by the China Academy of Commerce Industry Research, the market size of down jackets in China will reach 196 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 15.81%. It is expected that the market size of down jackets in China will reach 227 billion yuan in 2024.

At the time of the consumer boom, down prices have also attracted much attention.

According to down gold website statistics, in the second half of this year, the price of goose down with a content of 50% -95% has fallen from its high point since June. Among them, the price of white goose down with 90% velvet content was 1143.92 yuan/kg on October 30th, while it was 1227.66 yuan/kg on June 17th, but still increased from 1069.66 yuan/kg on May 3rd. The price of duck down with a velvet content of 50% -95% is on the rise, with white duck down with a velvet content of 90% priced at 535.62 yuan/kg on October 30th and 481.9 yuan/kg on May 3rd.

Upstream down enterprises have a more intuitive understanding of down price fluctuations. Overall, the price of down in 2024 will be slightly higher than in 2023, "said Wang Kui.

Zhang Wenjun also stated that the price of down has increased significantly from 2023 to the present.

There are multiple reasons for the price increase, not only affecting the down industry chain, but also meat processing, "Wang Kui said." Goose down is a by-product of goose meat. With the current decline in pork prices, consumer demand will tilt towards pork, and the decrease in demand for goose meat will lead to a reduction in goose breeding, which in turn will affect the supply of goose feathers, and goose down will naturally increase in price

In the eyes of industry insiders such as Wang Kui, down jackets are a "get what you pay for" product. In April 2022, the new national standard for down jackets was officially implemented, and one of the main changes was to modify the "velvet content" of the past down jackets to "velvet content", which means that the "velvet" that actually plays a role in keeping warm in down jackets has become the standard for measuring the quality of down jackets.

Nowadays, as the living standards of the general public continue to improve, the requirements for the quality of down jackets are also constantly increasing. They should be warm and lightweight. Down jackets with 95% or 90% velvet content will definitely have better warmth retention than those with 70% velvet content, but down jackets with high velvet content will definitely have relatively higher prices, "said Wang Kui.

Compared to duck down, goose down has larger petals, longer fibers, and better fluffiness, so the filling amount can be relatively less, making it more suitable for the current popular lightweight down jackets, "said Zhang Wenjun." Nowadays, young consumers pursue comfort, fashion, and lightness, and also want to buy better and higher end products. Down jackets are constantly meeting new consumer needs, which is also a reflection of current consumer confidence

At present, there are over a thousand down and product operators in Lu'an, among which 20 enterprises have an annual output value of over 100 million yuan. The down industry has an annual output value of over 10 billion yuan and is an important down production and processing base in China. Premium down, down clothing, feather velvet crafts and other series of products are exported to more than 80 countries and regions including Japan, the United States, Germany, Australia, etc., with an annual export value exceeding 200 million US dollars.