According to a report by Shanghai Securities News, the Chinese government might extend an additional 1.5 million tons of cotton import quota in the near future to meet the needs of the domestic market. China is the largest cotton consumer in the world.

In 2007, China produced about 19.96 million tons of yarn. Although China produced 7.80 million tons of cotton in 2007, it still relies heavily on imported cotton to satisfy the need of the giant textile industry. China imported 2.46 million tons of cotton last year, down 32.5% from the previous year.