China will be the largest cotton buyer from US ( 2003-11-22 11:32) (Xinhua) Economic analyst Gary Raines
of US company Cotton Inc. has said that China will become the largest buyer of
cotton from the United States.
In fact, China will become the largest buyer in the world market and the
United States will become the largest seller, Raines said in a speech on the
economic outlook for cotton at an international conference recently held in
Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province.
According to Raines, American cotton usually accounts for about 55 percent of
China's imports. China is likely to buy 830,000 tons from other nations this
year, of which roughly 455,000 tons will come from the United States.
The acreage of cotton fields in China this year increased 20 percent over
last year but the yield dropped 20 percent due to bad climate. Chinese experts
believe that the nation's cotton supply will fall short of demand in the near
future.
According to the experts, China should start a cotton futures market soon to
control trade risks and stabilize cotton prices.
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