U.S. ban on China’s Xinjiang cotton fractures fashion industry supply chains

Last month, Chinese cotton yarn maker Huafu Fashion sent a warning to investors. “Multiple American brands have canceled orders,” Huafu said in a Shenzhen stock exchange filing, citing U.S. sanctions. “It’s brought negative effects to the company.” Huafu — which said it lost at least $54.3 million last year vs. a net profit of $62.5 million in 2019 — is one of the few suppliers to publicly acknowledge the sanctions’ effects. But thousands of companies worldwide are affected after the United States blacklisted 87 percent of China’s cotton crop — one-fifth of the world’s supply — citing human rights violations against Muslim Uighurs in China’s northwest Xinjiang region.