Silk: Distribution and Production | World | Economic Geography

In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Distribution of Silk 2. Geographical Requirements for Silk Production 3. World Production.

Distribution of Silk:

Silk is classed as an animal fibre, since it is derived from the cocoon of a moth, but it has little in common with wool. In being a continuous filament it has more in common with synthetic textiles. It is the finest and therefore one of the most beautiful, of natural fibres and is thus highly-prized.

The difficulties of dealing with so fine a filament as that produced by the silkworm, make silk an expensive, luxury fabric. The art of making textiles from silk was discovered in China, around 2,500 B.C. and the process was kept secret and monopolized by the Chinese until it gradual­ly spread to Japan and India in the third and fourth centuries A.D. Knowledge of the process only reached Europe in the sixth century A.D.

The special qualities of silk which make it so sought after are its fineness and its glossy appearance when made up. Its properties cannot yet be successfully matched by other natural or synthetic textiles, but its production and use has declined because of its high cost and labour-intensive methods.

Sericulture:

Silk is derived from the caterpillar of certain moths, the most important of which, Bombyx mori, is called the Mulberry Spinner because it feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree. Silk may be collected from the cocoons of wild moths (Wild Silk) or moths may be bred for the purpose.

The breeding of silk­worms is known as sericulture and is widely practised in China and Japan. Each moth lays several hundred eggs. The caterpillars or silkworms are very small when they first hatch but grow very quickly. They are fed on either mulberry or oak leaves. After about five weeks the worms have grown to about 7.5 cm (3 inches) in length and begin to spin their cocoons.

The worms extrude very fine filaments up to 550 metres (600 yards) in length, which are coated with a gummy substance to allow them to stick together to form the cocoons. The silkworms seal themselves in­side the cocoons and, if allowed to develop naturally, would change into chrysalises and then moths, and would eat their way out of the cocoons after about three weeks.

In sericulture this is prevented by heating the cocoons in ovens to kill the worms. Each cocoon may contain up to 3 km (2 miles) of silk filament, and this must be very carefully unwound. The cocoons are put into hot water to remove the gummy coating and the filaments are then reeled. This process may be carried out by hand but it is also done in small fac­tories called filatures.

The filaments from several cocoons, the number depending on the thickness of raw silk required, are unwound and twisted together to give a stronger thread, though this is still almost in­visibly fine, which is known as raw silk. The raw silk may be exported at this stage for manufacture else­where or the silk processing may continue in the area of production.

The threads of raw silk are too fine for textile manu­facture and they are usually doubled or thrown to produce a stronger and thicker fibre. Silk is then woven in much the same way as any other textile, though handlooms are still quite common in the silk industry, because the silk must be handled with great care.

In the major manufacturing districts, however, mechanical weaving is now most common. Cocoons which are unsuitable for reeling or broken filaments from the reeling process are treated like staple fibres. They are sorted according to length by combing and then spun in the same way as other staple fibres to produce spun silk. This is then woven but the resulting cloth is less valued and cheaper than silk fabrics made from the very long filaments.

Geographical Requirements for Silk Production:

1. Climate:

Although in theory the silkworm can be reared anywhere that mulberry trees will grow, in fact it is more limited in distribution. The silkworm cannot live in temperatures below 16°C (60°F) and therefore sericulture is largely confined to sub-tropical regions. In the warmer regions several crops of mul­berry leaves promote production while in cooler cli­mates, though sericulture can be carried out in heated buildings where the temperature is controlled, pro­duction is still limited because only one crop of mul­berry leaves can be obtained each year.

2. Labour:

The most important factor affecting the silk industry is the availability of cheap female labour. The delicate processes of rearing the silkworms and disentangling and reeling the raw silk require the utmost skill and patience. The long tradition of silk production in the Far East has concentrated the in­dustry in China and Japan.

These countries have always had a large, relatively poor agricultural population to whom silk production was a welcome addition to farm income. Although sericulture was introduced in Europe, the rise in the standard of living has made French and Italian peasants unwilling to undertake such painstaking work for little reward. In Japan silk is still produced but at higher cost; China is still a rel­atively low-cost producer.

The manufacture of silk after reeling requires less skill and may therefore be carried out either in the areas of production or elsewhere. Location near major fashion centres, e.g. in France, is often an advantage for manufacture, though not for silk production.

World Production of Silk:

Total raw silk production today is relatively small, amounting to only about 47,000 tonnes annually, compared with 14 million tonnes of cotton, and almost all of it is produced in Asia. The leading pro­ducers are Japan (34 per cent), China (34 per cent), South Korea, the U.S.S.R., and India. The only non- Asian producer of any significance is Brazil. France, Britain, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S.A. are silk-manufacturing countries, though their output of raw silk is infinitesimal.

World production of silk has tended to decline during the twentieth century for two reasons. Firstly, the costs of production are high and have been increas­ing in most areas. This means that silk is an expensive fabric and its market is limited. Secondly, the develop­ment of synthetic textiles, especially rayon, which in continuous filament form resembles silk so much that it is called artificial silk, has created great competition.

Artificial silk is cheap and easy to produce, unlike genuine silk, and is therefore used for all non-luxury purposes. Natural silk, however, retains its luxury market and in the last two decades has even increased its market among the wealthy members of the U.S., European and Japanese society.

1. Japan:

Silk has been produced in Japan for about 1,600 years, since the art was first introduced from China. The rearing of silkworms is a traditional occu­pation of the rural population in central and southern Honshu, especially in upland areas where other agri­cultural possibilities were few and where silk produc­tion supplemented farm income. Peak production was attained before the Second World War when about 2.25 million people were engaged in silk production but the war and post-war period saw a decline in out­put.

Since 1950, however, the industry has again ex­panded but on a different basis. In pre-war days raw silk was exported and in 1929 accounted for about 40 per cent of Japan’s total exports. Nowadays silk is only a small and relatively unimportant feature of the Japanese economy because so many other industries have been rapidly developed. Moreover, silk is no longer exported raw but is mostly manufactured in Japan.

The number of people engaged in silk produc­tion is now also much smaller. Rural population has drifted to the towns and only 10 or 15 per cent of farms now produce silk. The acreage under mulberry trees has remained stagnant. Silk production, however, has been greatly increased by the improvements of rearing techniques and the breeding of higher-yielding silkworms.

Costs of production are no longer low be­cause the standard of living has risen, but the Japanese are able to compete with other producers because of their greater efficiency. Japan is the largest producer of silk textiles as well as of raw silk.

2. China:

China was the first country to produce silk, nearly 4,500 years ago, and has always been a major producer. The most important areas of pro­duction are in central and southern China and in the Shandong (Shantung) peninsula, and the silk is pro­duced largely by peasants as a supplement to farm income. Both raw and manufactured silk are ex­ported. China is a competitive producer because it has large supplies of labour and a long tradition of pro­duction.

Silk production was fairly important in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but the rise in the standard of living and the increase in alterna­tive employment opportunities in both France and Italy have reduced local production. Silk manufacture, originally based on locally-produced silk is now de­pendent on imported supplies.

France, Italy, and Switzerland, which also has a tradition of silk manu­facturing, are major silk importers. Lyons and Grenoble in France and Milan in Italy are the main centres. Silk is also manufactured in Krefeld, Germany and at Macclesfield in Britain.

The largest silk im­porter, however, is the U.S.A. Both raw silk, woven in New England, and silk textiles are imported to supply the affluent American market. European and some minor producers, such as Thailand, depend on the tourist trade to supply a market for their silk goods.