China, the world's biggest cotton buyer, may import at least 25 percent less of the fiber as the global recession erodes demand for textiles, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said.
Imports may total 1.5 million metric tons in 2009, analysts led by Mao Shuchun at the Beijing-based institute said today in a report. China purchased 1.94 million tons of overseas cotton in the 11 months through November, according to customs data.
Yarn production increased 3.8 percent in November and output of cotton cloth fell 1.37 percent, ending a 10-year period of the growth, the analysts said. Cotton use may fall in the first half from a year earlier, they said.
The Chinese government is buying 4.2 million tons of domestic cotton, or more than half of last year's harvest, to boost agricultural incomes and stabilize planting. China is certainly interested to first sell cotton from the state reserves?rather than importing, Winterthur, Switzerland-based Paul Reinhart AG said in a report last week.
The price of seed cotton paid to Chinese farmers in December was down 25 percent from a year earlier as textile exports slowed, the analysts said. Over 60 percent of cotton farms are losing money, the Chinese researchers said.
The country's textile exports, the world's biggest, fell 8 percent in November from October, the China Cotton Association said on Dec. 24,2008.
