China's sustainable cotton initiative yields positive result

As temperatures climb in the summer, 1,800 mu (120 hectares) of sustainable cotton field in Halayugong town of Korla, Northwest China's Xinjiang autonomous region, has entered the budding stage, with seedlings typically sprouting nine to 10 leaves and growing up to about 45 centimeters, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The cotton field is one of the samples of the China Cotton Sustainable Development project, an initiative launched by the China Cotton Association (CCA) to promote environment-friendly cotton cultivation through scientific planting methods.

As of now, 1.2 million mu of cotton field under the project in Xinjiang have received green light, yielding a total production of 430,000 metric tons of sustainable cotton.

Survey data from the CCA shows that in 2025 China's total cotton planting area is expected to reach over 44.82 million mu, up 1.8 percent year-on-year. And the planting area of cotton in Xinjiang will reach 40.9 million mu, up 3.3 percent year-on-year.

Wang Jianhong, president of the CCA, said that China's cotton quality ranks above the global average, but still falls short of meeting the requirements of high-quality development of the textile industry.

"It's imperative to push forward the green and low-carbon transformation of the cotton industry, reduce the resource and energy consumption, and cut carbon and pollutant emissions in the production process to enhance the environmental sustainability of the industry," Wang added.

China is one of the world's largest cotton producing and consuming countries. Since the launch of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), China's cotton industry has seen steady performance, with the annual production and consumption standing at 6 million tons and 8 million tons, respectively.