china overproduction

Mongolia's herders raise camels, horses, cows, and sheep, but the fastest-growing herds are goats, thanks mostly to the swift rise in global demand for cashmere. More than a decade ago, fast fashion and increased knitting capacity in China helped push the soft wool, once a luxury product for the rich, to a mass market consumer good. Mongolia is now the world's second-largest cashmere producer, after China.

in the early aughts, a spike in demand — paired with changes in World Trade Organization rules — brought more cashmere mass-production to China, which put the legacy businesses in jeopardy.

Thirty years ago, when the grass grew tall, cashmere goats made up 19 percent of all livestock in Mongolia. It's 60 percent today. And that's not just because goats are eager breeders. This is about money. China, Mongolia's biggest trading partner, has strict controls on importing meat and milk from Mongolian sheep and cows but not on cashmere.

china overproduction Cashmere supply is excessive due to overproduction in China, supported by government policy.