Updated Statistics by China Customs reveal that China imported 3.8067 million tons of cotton in total in 2006 , of which import from the US amounted to 1.7282 million tons, forming the largest part of the imports, according to statistics.

However, US cotton share in China market has dropped by years. Last year, US cotton imports accounted for 45.4 percent of China's total cotton imports.

Indian cotton imports ranked the second place in Chinese cotton import market. China imported 595,400 tons cotton from India in 2006, up 376 percent over 2005.

Other countries and regions from where China imported more cotton include the French-speaking African countries (427,900 tons), Uzbekistan (365,300 tons), Australia (227,900 tons), and East Africa (82,800 tons).