China's domestic demand for cotton is likely to be lower than 10 million tons in the 2011-12 marketing season, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
More than half of the Chinese cotton marketing year has passed and China has so far imported only 2.61 million tons of cotton.
At present, the country has over 3 million tons of cotton in temporary reserve.
In marketing season 2009-10, 10.6 million tons of cotton was consumed by China's domestic textile mills for making yarns.
However, as the textile yarn production in China is growing, the consumption of cotton is likely to rise next season.