2011 ANNUAL PREVIEW: Changes Are Coming to China's Cotton Industry

By Jim.Robinson|November 23, 2010

The Chinese cotton industry has been enjoying robust demand in the few past years because of the fast growth of its textile industry. However, that does not mean that the development of the China cotton industry will be smooth sailing in the future. A series of factors may bring great changes to the industry.

Generally speaking, cotton acreage has been increasing gradually in China in recent years (see chart). However, the share of cotton acreage of the major inland areas among China’s total decreased from 67% in 2000 to 63% in 2008, while the share of Xinjiang cotton acreage expanded from 23% to 30%.

The first reason for this change is that, in the inland areas, more and more young people go to work in the city in recent years, leading to an aging labor force and higher labor costs for cotton. Because cotton requires more labor than most of other crops, an increasing amount of inland cotton acreage will shift to the middle and western parts of China over the few next years.

You can read the rest of this article and dozens of others when the 2011 Cotton International Annual Edition is published. Be sure to watch for it in your mailbox in January 2011!