China July cotton imports up

China imported 157,100 tonnes of cotton in July, up 30.89 percent from the previous month, the China Cotton Association said on Thursday, citing customs data. The figure was 7 percent lower than the same period of 2010, the association said. Imports for the first seven months of 2011 reached 1.48 million tonnes, down 13.3 percent compared to the same period of last year, it said.
Industry officials have predicted that China's cotton imports will steadily rise in order to meet growing demand from the country's textile importers. The domestic cotton crop has fallen in recent years, with farmers preferring to plant grains, which are better subsidised and less labour-intensive.