March 5, 2012

China's 2012 cotton imports may cut up to 25%

This year, China's cotton imports are likely to reach 2.52-3.03 million tonnes, a drop of 10-25% from last year, according to a report from the Cotton Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences published on Friday (Mar 2).

Bumper harvests and sluggish consumption in 2011 would help reduce import demand for cotton this year, noted the report, published on the website of the China Cotton Association.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China produced 6.6 million tonnes of cotton in 2011, a jump of 10.7% over the previous year. Meanwhile, the country imported 3.37 million tonnes of the crop last year, up 18.5% on-year.

The institute also predicted that this year's cotton planting area would drop 6.1% year on year as a sharp fall of cotton prices last year dampened farmers' interest in planting.

In 2012, the country's cotton yarn output was likely to remain unchanged or gain 3-5% from the preceding year while the textile industry's cotton consumption would rise by 5-15% on-year, the report projected.

The institute forecast that domestic cotton prices would remain stable at the beginning of this year propped up by the state stockpiling policy but were likely to pick up or fluctuate within bigger ranges later due to imported inflation pressure.