The national cotton production set a record high. According to the latest information from China Cotton Association, in 2006 China was expected to harvest more than 6.7 million tons of cotton, representing an increase of 17.5 percent and growth of one million tons over the previous year. This would have been a gain of 380,000 tons from 6.32 million tons in 2004, representing a rise of six percent, setting another record in history.

In December the state provided powerful support to the domestic market by adopting the measures of purchasing Xinjiang cotton and adjusting floating tariff of imported cotton. Meanwhile the government decided to postpone the supplementary cotton import quota of 2007.

New cotton purchase price continued to climb. The national total lint acquisition was close to 5.40 million tons in 2006, accounting for 80 percent of the total output. Lint sales price lifted amid stability.

 
Fibre2fashion, News Desk - China