According to China Cotton Association, in June 2009, available resources in cotton market were diminishing, cotton price, which remained in the doldrums in earlier months, started to pick up gradually.
Relevant departments of the state intensified efforts to release state reserves of cotton, along with which cotton import quotas amounting to 400,000 tons were sanctioned to fulfill the needs of the textile industry.
In the first half of 2009, China's yarn production completed 10.96 million tons, up 9.4 percent year-on-year; textiles and garment exports achieved US $72.8 billion, down 11.1 percent year-on-year.
Cotton imports amounted to 740,000 tons, down 40.8 percent year-on-year and the Chinese cotton price index (CCIndex328) averaged at 11,974 Yuan per ton, down 13.1 percent year-on-year.
As of June 30, the state had released 775,000 tons of cotton reserves, while the actual transactions amounted to 495,000 tons, accounting for 33 percent of the total release plan of 1.52 million tons
In international cotton market, both futures and spot prices moved down in June and the price advantage of imported cotton expanded. In the month of June, imports totaled to 169,000 tons, up 11.3 percent from the previous month.
According to a survey among 12 cotton producing provinces, overall growth of cotton was stable, plant diseases and insect pests were light, but total output seems to be still in a downward trend due to a larger reduction of cotton area.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - China