October 11, 2012

China expects local cotton demand to remain steady

China's National Development and Reform Commission expects the country's cotton demand to remain steady in 2012.

With strong support of temporary policy about purchasing and storing cotton, China can balance demand and supply of domestic cotton and make market stable by efficiently using international market resource and reserve.

An official of the commission predicted on the same day that China's actual output of cotton will be around 6.9 million tonnes in 2012, down 300,000 tonnes or 4.2% from a year earlier, which is caused by decreasing incomes and rising production cost of planting cotton.

China has decided import tariff and quota of grain and cotton in 2013. Import quota of wheat is 9.64 million tonnes and national trades enjoy 90% of total. That of corn is 7.2 million tonnes and national trades enjoy 60%. Quota for rice is 5.32 million tonnes and national trades enjoy 50%. That of cotton is 894,000 tonnes and national trades share 33% of total. All of them are equivalent to last year's.