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BEIJING, Mar 12 (AFP): Chinese textile producers are sounding the alarm over a growing shortage of cotton that threatens to slow down their expansion at home and abroad, state media said Sunday.
Forecasts show that the cotton shortfall will reach four million tonnes this year, the Xinhua news agency reported, without giving a source.
"Textile producers have been scrambling for cotton purchase quotas," Xinhua said, citing Chen Junliang, chairman of the Jiangsu Cotton and Fiber Group in the eastern province of Jiangsu.
The cotton deficit has come about as a result of falling supply and rapidly rising demand, according to the agency.
Statistics with the China Textile Association suggested that China's cotton growing area measured 5.12 million hectares (12.6 million acres) in 2005, down 10 per cent from the previous year.
Cotton is the second most important cash crop in China after oil seeds and the country is the world's biggest producer, but local farmers are being squeezed by foreign competition.
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