China, the world's largest cotton consumer, has issued the first batch of 1.89 million tonnes of cotton import quotas for 2010, as it aims to ease supplies ahead of an expected low domestic harvest. Of the total amount, a quota of 1 million tonnes of cotton could be imported according to a sliding tariff rate, while imports of 894,000 tonnes would be taxed at a fixed 1 percent, said the China Cotton Association on its website (www.china-cotton.org).
The amount was in line with market expectations following the recovery of textile production, while China's own cotton production was projected to fall short of demand by about 2 million tonnes. "Many mills have been active signing import contracts, not only from the United States, but also from India," said one cotton trader with an international trading house.
China expects its cotton production to fall by more than 10 percent this year from last year's 7.5 million tonnes. Beijing has been releasing cotton from state reserves this year to cover demand from textile mills, which have seen export growth slow most of the year amid the global financial crisis. China, the world's largest buyer, imported 1.31 million tonnes of cotton in the first 11 months of the year, a fall of 33 percent from the year-ago period, official Customs figures showed.
