Silk accounts for less than 0.2% of the global textile market. Yet roughly 90% of it comes from just two countries: China and India. That level of concentration shapes everything from pricing to product quality.
A handful of nations produce nearly all the world’s silk, and the gap between the top two and everyone else is enormous.
China leads by a wide margin. Production figures vary by source and year, but China consistently accounts for around 80% of global raw silk output — roughly 142,000 metric tons as of recent reporting. Global production sits at approximately 177,000 metric tons total, which means China alone produces more silk than the rest of the world combined several times over.
India comes second, producing around 28,000 to 32,000 metric tons annually. India is the only other country with a meaningful share of global production, and it stands out for variety — Indian sericulture produces not just standard mulberry silk but also tussar, muga, and eri silk. Muga silk, a golden-hued variety grown almost exclusively in Assam, has no equivalent anywhere else in the world.
After China and India, production drops off steeply.
Around 60 countries produce some silk, but the combined output of everyone outside China and India barely reaches 10% of the global total. When you look at the numbers, calling most of these countries “major producers” is generous.
China’s dominance is not just historical momentum. Silk production has actually doubled worldwide since the 1970s, and most of that growth happened in China — driven by infrastructure investment, low labor costs, and a regulatory environment that enabled rapid scaling of sericulture operations.
Hangzhou, often called the “Silk Capital,” remains the center of China’s silk industry. The country has built vertically integrated supply chains that handle everything from silkworm rearing to finished fabric production. China’s silk sector generates billions in annual revenue — some estimates put it near $10 billion.
Silk production is inherently labor-intensive. Each cocoon must be carefully processed, and it takes roughly 2,500 cocoons to produce a single pound of raw silk. Countries with affordable agricultural labor and existing infrastructure have a built-in advantage. China and India have both, which is why production stays concentrated there rather than spreading to regions with higher labor costs.
India employs an estimated 7.9 million people in its silk industry alone. In China, the figure is around one million. These are primarily rural workers for whom sericulture is a critical livelihood — not factory workers in an industrial operation. Silk is a rural employment engine, not just a luxury commodity.
When one country controls roughly 80% of any raw material supply, disruptions there ripple everywhere. Trade policy shifts, weather events affecting mulberry crops, or changes in labor availability in China directly impact silk pricing and availability worldwide. The silk pillowcase or scarf you buy almost certainly traces back to Chinese sericulture, regardless of where the finished product was branded or assembled.
Available data also suggests a declining trend. Production fell from around 202,000 metric tons in 2015 to approximately 177,000 metric tons by 2017 — though more recent figures have not been widely published. The silk market is shifting because younger generations in China’s silk-producing regions are moving to cities, thinning out the rural workforce that sericulture depends on.
For anyone curious about where silk comes from, the honest answer is overwhelmingly China, with India as the only other producer at scale. Everything else is a footnote — culturally interesting, but economically marginal.
The global silk map is far less diverse than country lists suggest. China and India together account for about 90% of production, and that concentration is increasing, not decreasing. If you care about silk quality, pricing, or supply reliability, the two-country reality behind global silk tells you more than any ranked list of 12 producers. The data shows a clear trend toward even greater concentration, and the silk in your products almost certainly started its journey in one of these two countries.