The purchase price of new cotton is currently below expectation of farmers and hence majority of them are reluctant to sell their produce.
In Dezhou, Shandong Province, some cotton firms have started to purchase cotton, but the acquired quantity of new cotton is only 15 percent and the remaining is old cotton of last year.
While farmers expect the price of new cotton to be more than 9 Yuan/kg, as the harvested quantity is small, the current purchase price is 8.40-8.80 Yuan/kg.
The lint percentage in the new cotton is 38 to 40, which is on average 2 to 3 percent more than that of last year. The quality of cotton is better, but it has higher moisture content at 16 to 20 percent.
In comparison, the purchase price of old cotton is 7.90-8.10 Yuan/kg. It has lint percentage of 37.5 and moisture content is about 8 percent.