Chinese Textile Plant to Consume All Cotton Farmed in Arkansas State

Chinese industrial giant Shandong Ruyi is planning its first North American gigantic textile factory in a small town in the southern U.S. state of Arkansas which will not only transform the state but it's expected to create 800 jobs.

Forrest City, located near the Mississippi River, is where Shandong Ruyi plans a $410 million investment to spin yarn at a factory where local workers once built Japanese televisions.

AEDC communications director Jeff Moore said that the Shandong Ruyi plant is projected to begin production in mid-2018.

Mayor Larry Bryant says the company is already working on training at the local community college.

Ruyi’s project will consume 200,000 bales of Arkansas cotton annually, nearly all the cotton the state grows each year. So Arkansas Economic Development Commission Executive Director Mike Preston expects a surge of new planting.

That’s going to turn around and put money back in their pockets and the people they employ as well as anyone in between, people who are baling the cotton, transporting and bringing it to facility and anyone transporting out, he said. So the supply chain on a company like this, a project like this is exponential.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who has brought nearly $2 billion worth of Chinese investment to his state, said that there are always cultural differences to work through.

There are things they can learn from China entrepreneurship and China workers, how they do things Hutchinson said. Also the China’s business leaders will see some very good practices that they have that they may want to adopt. This is a great win for both sides whenever they have those exchanges.