June 13, 2012

China's May cotton imports soar 247% on-year

The May cotton imports of China hit 501,900 tonnes, surging 247% against the same period of the previous year, based on a report published by a local industry website, cncotton.com.

However, the imports last month dipped 1.5% from the previous month, the report said.

The country imported a total of 2.58 million tonnes of cotton in the first five months of this year, a jump of 114% year on-year.

Bargain buying was a major reason for the sharp increase of cotton imports, noted the report, adding China's import cotton prices are now more than RMB4,000/tonne (US$628) lower than the prices of home-grown cotton.

The General Administration of Customs usually releases the official cotton import data around the 20th day of every month.