China's 2012 cotton land may drop 5% 

For 2012, China's farmers will plant 5% less cotton land due to weak cotton prices, making the Ministry of Agriculture's target for 2012 local cotton output more hard to hit, Long Xi, a deputy director of the ministry, said Tuesday (Mar 20).

Continued bad weather will affect the unit cotton yield this year, Long told an industry conference, according to a transcript on the China Cotton Association's website.

He noted that China's unit cotton output reached a record last year.

"Unit cotton yield is unlikely to reach the level of last year," he said.

The China National Development and Reform Commission this month set a 2012 cotton output target of six million tonnes, down from output of 6.6 million tonnes in 2011.