According to the statistics provided by the Statistics Department of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, with the implementation of the national policy on cotton collection and storage, and the decrease in the price of foreign cotton, the quantity of imported cotton gradually rises. The total amount of raw cotton imported in October 2012 was 271,100 tons, an increase of 0.92 million tons from the previous month and an increase of 3.5% from the previous month. Compared with the same period of last year, the import volume of cotton this month increased by 19,800 tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. In October, imports of cotton in quotas amounted to 60 million tons, which accounted for 22% of the total; monthly sliding tariffs were 196,200 tons, accounting for 72.1% of total imports. In the first 10 months of 2012, 4.310 million tons of imported cotton were added, an increase of 2.1066 million tons, an increase of 95.98%. In the first two months of 2012/13 (September-October), cumulative imports of 535,000 tons of cotton were up 5.9% year-on-year.

From the point of view of the country of origin of cotton imports, Australian cotton remained the first in October and the import volume was 111,700 tons, accounting for 41% of the overall share. Compared with September, it increased by 20,700 tons, an increase of 22.7%. In the first 10 months of this year, Australian cotton imported 602,300 tons.

US cotton imported 61,900 tons this month, accounting for 22.7% of the total imported cotton, a decrease of 5,500 tons from the previous month and a decrease of 8.2% from the previous month. From January to October, 1.359 million tons of US cotton were imported, a decrease of 16.61% year-on-year.

In October 2012, Brazil’s cotton imports ranked third with 47,000 tons, accounting for 17.3% of the total import volume of the month. In the first 10 months, Brazilian cotton imports totaled 225,000 tons, down 24% year-on-year.

Uzbekistan’s cotton imports ranked fourth this month, at 18,000 tons, a decrease of 5,200 tons from the previous month and a decrease of 22.4% from the previous month. In the first 10 months of 2012, Uzbekistan's cotton imports totaled 248,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 26.58%.

This month's fifth-ranked import was Mali cotton, which was 0.44 million tons, which was a decrease of 13,900 tons from the previous month and a decrease of 76% compared with the previous month.

The countries ranked in the 6th to 10th in imports of cotton in October 2012 also included 0.35 million tons in Zimbabwe, 0.34 million tons in Burkina Faso, 0.34 million tons in Zambia, 0.3 million tons in Tanzania and 0.3 million tons in Malawi.

The countries in this month's cotton ranking rank in the top 15 countries. In addition to the above, they also include: Togo, Cameroon, Argentina, Paraguay and India.

It can be seen that the share of cotton imports from Australia and Brazil from the southern hemisphere continues to increase, while India’s cotton imports continue to decrease.

In terms of import prices, in October, the average import prices of the five major source countries increased except for the United States, while the rest fell. The highest import price in the five major importing countries was U.S. cotton, which was 2.46 U.S. dollars per kilogram, up by 2.9% from the previous period; Brazilian cotton was 2.33 U.S. dollars per kilogram, down by 2.5% from the previous month; Australian cotton was 2.27 U.S. dollars per kilogram, down by 2.6% from the previous month; India’s cotton It was US$2.08/kg, a decrease of 10.7% from the previous period; Uzbekistan cotton was US$1.94/kg, a decrease of 19.2% compared with the previous period.

According to the imported cotton area, in October 2012, China's cotton imports were still concentrated in Beijing, Shandong, and Jiangsu. The importing regions are still dominated by Beijing and Shandong, both together account for 68% of the total share, and the rest of the provinces are less than 10%. In October, Beijing imported 114,500 tons of cotton, a 6.3% decrease from the previous month, and continued to maintain its largest import province. Shandong, as China's traditional cotton spinning province, imported 69,400 tons of cotton that month, an increase of 23.3% over the previous month. Jiangsu, as another province of textiles, imported 21,300 tons of cotton in October, a decrease of 3.6% from the previous month. Xinjiang imported 18,300 tons of cotton this month, an increase of 15% from the previous month. Shanghai imported 12,300 tons of cotton in October. In October, the top ten imported cotton imports included Guangdong, Henan, Zhejiang, Hebei, and Anhui.