Wuchuan feather and down earns top marks

Duck down produced in Wuchuan ranked first in the jointly released test result by IDFL Laboratory and Institute and Guangzhou Fiber Product Testing and Research Institute (GTT).

IDFL and GTT, two authoritative institutes in feather and down testing, conducted tests on 13 down samples from China, France, Hungary and Poland in August.

According to the test result, grey duck down from Wuchuan in Zhanjiang city tops the list with a fill power up to 22.1 cm. While ranking first among the samples sent by European countries, the white goose down from Poland, with a fill power of 20.8 cm, came fourth place. Fill power is a measure of the loft or "fluffiness" of a down product that is loosely related to the insulating value of the down.

Originally known as International Down and Feather Testing Laboratory, IDFL is the largest down and feather testing laboratory in the world with over 8,000 clients in 80 countries.

Although the results show that down produced in European countries is not superior to that of China, its price is at least 40 percent higher than Chinese products of the same quality. The label produced in Europe is in fact a gimmick to raise prices.

Wuchuan feather and down factory workers pack their down products. [Photo courtesy chinanews.com]

Yao Xiaoman, director-general of China Feather and Down Industrial Association, delivered a keynote speech at the press conference of China's High-quality Down and Place of Origin recently held in Tongcheng, Anhui province.

China is capable of producing top quality down products that is recognized globally, said Yao.

Toshikatsu Kawada, president of Japan Down Products Corporative Association (JDCA) said at the conference that sales promotion in Japan's down duvets market is still dominated by habitual thinking of 25 years ago, which views the place of origin as the main judgment in quality comparison. This wrong commercial customs has led to a rampant false-labeling problem in the country with regard to the products' countries of origin.

Kawada said that JDCA will guide the market in Japan to abandon the wrong conception that creates a relationship between the place of origin and quality, given the fact that China, as the largest production base of down products in the world, has been continuously producing premium down products.

Wuchuan in Guangdong province is the first "Feather and Down Town of China". With an abundance of rivers, thriving poultry breeding in the county-level city also makes it a major producing area of feather and down.

A feather and down factory in Wuchuan, Guangdong province.[Photo courtesy gdzjdaily.com.cn]

The 2012 file photo shows the launching of Wuchuan feather and down industrial base. [Photo courtesy gdzjdaily.com.cn]