Thread by @fbermingham

🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨

While the world wakes up to the textiles industry's hazardous position on Xinjiang cotton, our investigation reveals a whole new thread that could further upend the industry: viscose rayon.

scmp.com/news/china/art…

Viscose is the world's third most commonly used fabric - and up to 18% of it is made in Xinjiang, where it is often mixed with cotton and then fans out around the world, barely traceable in the global supply chain

Our analysis of customs records, satellite imagery, govt documents and interviews with sources on the ground in Xinjiang uncover deep links between the region's biggest producer - Zhongtai Chemical - and XPCC, the sanctioned, quasi-military entity that runs parts of Xinjiang

Three major factories are located within miles of suspected detention camps run by XPCC, and while viscose has yet to face bans or sanctions, the cosy ties between XPCC and almost a fifth of global production presents another huge risk for the sector

Viscose is a wood-based fibre. We tracked customs records to find that almost all of the dissolved chemical wood pulp needed to power Xinjiang's industry is coming from… Finland

Finnish companies have sold $367mn of pulp to Xinjiang buyers since 2017, with one company - Stora Enso - directly selling to Zhongtai since 2012.

While the bulk of the fibre is shipped to China, the company told us that some is also sent by train. A railway runs past its Uimanarju plant through Kazakhstan, into China, then eventually to the city of Korla, home to Xinjiang’s biggest viscose factory.

Korla is home to the XPCC’s Second Division and is crucial to Beijing's authorities' plans to upgrade Xinjiang's industry and part of its overall plan to reform the region.

In 2015, Beijing told Xinjiang’s viscose industry to expand its total workforce to 300,000 by 2017 & double by 2020. Factories were told to use govt subsidies to bring in more workers with “pre-employment training”, especially south Xinjiang, largely inhabited by Uygurs

After Xi Jinping used a speech last Sept to call for a transformation in Xinjiang's industrial base, Korla officials said the city should “go all out” to connect viscose fibre production to the rest of the apparel industry.

As part of this plan last month, authorities gave Zhongtai a 100 million yuan subsidy to boost XJ's viscose capacity by 25% by 2023

In 2020, Zhongtai CEO & senior XPCC official Li Bin agreed to “make a joint contribution to the employment of millions of people in Xinjiang”

This story was months in the making. Top marks to my excellent colleagues @jakefromer, who tenaciously drove the ship, and @cissy_chow, a reporter with a laser-guided ability to extract information. Proud to have been a part of it.