Raw Silk Production: Insects That Create Wealth for the Fashion Industry

Although there have been many technological developments in silk production, in China the same production processes have been followed for centuries.

 The total annual world production of Bombyx mori cocoons, generally regarded as producing the finest quality raw silk, is about 496,000 tons, amounting to about 62,000 tons of raw silk. Silk accounts for much less than one percent by volume of world fibre production. Its high value demand is a result both of labour intensive production methods and its intrinsic luxurious quality.


Main Producers of Silk

China produces and exports about two thirds of all silk produced in the world, followed by Japan. Other main producers are India, Korea, Thailand, and Brazil. China supplies about 40 percent of the US’s silk consumption. China has a long tradition of silk production (sericulture) that goes back about five thousand years.

Raw Silk Production Methods

The production of raw silk by means of raising caterpillars (larvae), especially those of the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori), is traditionally divided into three parts:

• Moths are selected for breeding, closely supervised during the egg laying process, and then sold on to farmers

• Eggs are hatched and the silkworms fed on mulberry leaves

• Farmers then sell the cocoons to reeling mills

Egg Production and Incubation

Following mating, female moths are placed in metal cylinders that are positioned within marked squares on an egg sheet, confining the moths' egg-laying to a small area. Each moth produces from 300 to 500 pinhead-size eggs, which adhere to the egg sheet, and then dies within two to three days of laying.