China's 2012 cotton area seen down

China's cotton planting area in 2012 is expected to fall 10.5 percent from last year because of reduced profits, the China Cotton Association said on Tuesday. Cotton acreage is estimated to decline to 5.2 million hectares or 78 million mu this year, as a fall in cotton prices and growing input costs have damped interest among farmers, the association said in a survey published its website (http://www.china-cotton.org).
Local cotton prices are mostly supported by government purchases, which totalled 2.47 million tonnes as of Monday from September. It said farmers were uncertain about future pricing, and the actual area would be subject to change along with the government's new purchase price policy and cotton prices after the Lunar New Year.