Less cotton to be grown this year

Land allocated to growing cotton is expected to decline 10% this year to 0.67m hectares, state media reported, citing a trade group. The trade group said the government is set to regulate the price of cotton to preempt major price fluctuations resulting from supply-demand imbalances. With the ending of textile trade quotas in January, raw material demand is expected to soar. Domestic cotton prices increased 0.5% in January over December, according to commodity retailing statistics from the central bank.