The 2019 China Cotton (Zhangjiagang) Forum was held in Zhangjiagang, East China’s Jiangsu province, on Dec 12.

The event has been held for the past 10 years and has become an important event for China’s cotton industry.

More than 400 representatives from futures, trade, and textile companies, as well as a number of industrial experts, took part in the event to review their performance over the past year and discuss development trends and risk control for the following year.

According to authorities, Zhangjiagang’s cotton imports account for 9 percent of the country’s and 37 percent of Jiangsu province’s total cotton imports.

This year, the city has imported 149,000 tons of cotton valued at $280 million, representing 40 percent and 33.3 percent year on year increases, respectively.

Reasons for the growth in cotton imports include declining domestic storage and production of cotton, increasing opportunities for international cotton trade, and the lack of high-quality varieties of cotton in China, said Ding Xiaofeng, a senior official at Jingang customs.

According to Ding, this year’s cotton imports have seen a decline in quality. Forty percent of the cotton was imported from the United States and India, and 37.3 percent of US products failed to meet Chinese standards, 15.9 percent more than last year.