On September 10, 2010, Xinhua reported that, according to a speech made by an official from China’s Ministry of Agriculture, China’s textile industry uses over 10 million tons of cotton each year, while the average annual domestic cotton production is only 7.06 million tons.
In this century, China has been importing over 2 million tons of cotton per annum. The highest amount of imported cotton recorded was 3.6 million tons. This year, the amount of imported cotton increased more than 60%.
Since the beginning of this century, the cotton plantation area in China has decreased more than 14 million mu (ed. note: 1 US acre = 6.07 mu) compared to the last century, leaving only 80 million mu of cotton plantations.
Source: Xinhua, September 10, 2010
http://news.xinhuanet.com/2010-09/10/c_13489750.htm