A US ban on Xinjiang cotton has encouraged China to import more than usual cotton this year. As per Business of Fashion, the country will soon issue another batch of import quotas to meet rising global demand for textiles after awarding 700,000 ton last month, said Xu Yaguang, Anaylst, Huatai Futures. Last year, China issued 400,000 ton in quotas.

Early this year, the US banned all products using cotton from Xinjiang over China’s alleged ill-treatment of its ethnic Uyghur Muslim minority. Fashion brand H&M also refused to use cotton from this region. The US also plans to ban some solar products made in the region.

China has already increased its cotton imports following the US ban, customs data show. Its inward shipments have averaged around 275,000 ton a month in 2021, compared to 179,000 ton last year. Its next batch of import quotas is likely to be less than 700,000 ton last month. China also issues 890,000 ton of low-tariff cotton-buying quotas on an annual basis, so the extra amounts come on top of that. The country awarded 800,000 ton additional quotas in 2019 before COVID-19 savaged the global economy.

Besides additional quotas, Beijing also plans to hold its annual sale of cotton from state reserves, said Wang Qianjin, Senior Analyst, Shanghai International Cotton Exchange.