Declining imports from China are combining with unexpectedly large cotton crops around the world to put further pressure on the US$2.7 billion cotton-futures market, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing analysts. The world’s biggest cotton consumer, China is buying less cotton as it attempts to pare down its strategic stockpiles built up after a worldwide shortage in 2011, and the International Cotton Advisory Committee forecasts China’s cotton imports will fall 45% this year–the biggest year-over-year drop since 2007. Traders have begun shifting their focus toward India, which many estimates peg to surpass China next year in cotton production for the first time since 1963.
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