Very few farmers grow sisal on a household basis due to the lack of processing capacity and difficulty in making a living simply on sisal plantation. The trial planting and the subsequent large-scale success of East African H. 11648 variety played an important role in the remarkable growth of sisal production in China. Sisal is cold-resistant to minus 3.5 degrees Celsius. However, it is apt to suffer from zebra-stripe and stem rot. From an agronomic perspective, therefore, there is vast potential for sisal production in China.
China also boasts considerable capacity in sisal fibre processing.
In addition, the 16 sisal rope manufacturing plants could process 100-120 tonnes of fibre daily. A number of other factories are using sisal as the raw material in the manufacturing of sisal polishing wheels, sisal cloth, sisal carpet, sisal bags, sisal craft, steel wire rope cores and so on. In a word, sisal production capacity in China remains far greater than the actual output. With regard to the performance of sisal production enterprises, Guangxi Land Reclamation Group can be taken as an example. The Longbei Farm within the group had 431 hectares of sisal, of which 392 hectares could be harvested.