Besides being the world's largest cotton producing and consuming country, China is also the top cotton importer.

Chinese cotton consumption accounted for one-third of the world's total consumption in 2005, meanwhile China imported more than one-quarter of the world total cotton trade.

With China's cotton import increased, foreign traders have adopted the method of using bonded warehouse for consigned cotton stock.

According to customs statistics of Zhangjiagang Bonded Area, from January- October, cotton import storage capacity of Zhangjiagang Bonded Area reached 150,000 tons, with value of US $200 million, increasing 5.8 and 5.9 times respectively over the same period last year. Cotton import accounted for nearly half of the total cotton import by Jiangsu ports.

Cotton trade has become another bright feature in the development of Zhangjiagang Bonded Zone.

China's cotton consumption is expected to reach 11.1 million tons for 2006 and 2007, while the gap is about 4.24 million tons. Jiangsu province is also facing serious supply tightness, with annual shortage in one million tons.

Bonded Area is unique because of the advantages of bonded warehouse and quota-free quantity, therefore, more and more cotton vendors choose to enter the domestic market through bonded warehousing.

According to statistics, Zhangjiagang Bonded Zone stocked 37,000 tons of Uzbekistan cotton in January-October, up 7.9-fold over the same period last year.
 
 
Fibre2fashion, News Desk - China