Dilys Wang 

China cotton imports: imports were 112.8kt in May 2026, up 78.3kt from the same period of last year, but down 52.5kt from previous month. In the first five months of 2026, imports totaled 824.9kt, up 90.7% or 392.3kt year-on-year, and from Sep 2025 to May 2026, imports amounted to 1,305kt, up 45% or 405.3kt from the same period of 2024/25 season.

Import details in May, 2026

The table above lists China's major cotton import sources, ordered by import volume from highest to lowest. Of the 112.8kt of cotton imported by China in May, Brazil was still the top supplier with 65.1kt of cotton imported, a year-on-year increase of 52kt, but down by 29kt from Apr. U.S. cotton imports amounted to 24.9kt, a year-on-year increase of 17kt and flat from Apr. Imports from other regions were below 10kt.

In terms of import shares for May 2026, Brazilian cotton accounted for 58%, up 19 percentage point from the same period in 2025 and 1 percentage points from Apr (57%); U.S. cotton made up 22%, down 2 percentage points from 5% a year earlier and up 7 percentage points from 15% in Apr; and Central Asian cotton represented 6%, up significantly in May 2025 and down 4 percentage point from 10% in Apr.

For the terms of trade, the share of ordinary trade in May was at 18%, up 3 percentage point from Apr. The combined proportion of entrepot trade by bonded area and customs warehousing trade accounted for stood at 73%, down 7 percentage points from 80% in Apr. The proportion of processing with imported materials rose by 4 percentage points from Apr to 9%. 

In May, enterprises from Shandong, Xinjiang and Beijing ranked top three in cotton imports: Shandong's share increased by 12 percentage points to 55%. Xinjiang's share declined 4 percentage points to 14%. Beijing's share reduced 1 percentage points to 10%. 

General condition of China cotton imports:

On the afternoon of Aug 25, 2025, relevant departments issued an announcement on the allocation of the sliding-scale duty quota for imported cotton in 2025. The allocated volume remains at only 200,000 tons, which can only be imported through processing trade and is distributed on the basis of contract applications, with a relatively narrow scope of use. On Mar 16, 2026, China announced to allocate 300kt sliding-scale duty quotas. Coupled with the 894,000 tons of 1% duty quota allocated each year, the known quota for the 2025/26 season has reached 1.394 million tons. The Tariff Commission of the State Council announced on March 4, 2025, that a 15% tariff would be imposed on U.S. cotton. Under the 1% duty quota, the import tax rate for U.S. cotton is: 1% duty + 15% separately imposed additional duty + 10% reciprocal duty. On Nov 5, 2025, the Tariff Policy Commission of the State Council announced that, starting from 13:01 on Nov 10, 2025, it would terminate the additional tariff measures specified in the Announcement of the Tariff Policy Commission of the State Council on Imposing Additional Tariffs on Certain Imports Originating in the United States (Announcement No. 2 of the Tariff Policy Commission, 2025). Specifically, this means the 15% additional tariff on U.S. cotton is lifted; the applicable import tariff rate for U.S. cotton will be a combination of a 1% tariff and a 10% reciprocal duty.

Brazilian cotton remained the top imported variety in China during May 2026. In May 2026, China imported 65.1kt of Brazilian cotton, down 28.7kt month-on-month and up 51.7kt year on year; in the first five months of 2026, imports amounted to 499kt, an increase of 263kt compared with the same period last year. For the 2025/26 marketing year (Sep-May), China imported 707kt of Brazilian cotton, up 268kt from the 439kt recorded in the year-earlier period.

The average unit price of imported cotton is calculated by dividing the total customs value of imported cotton by the total quantity. Among the major imported cotton varieties in May, the average price of Brazilian cotton was 73.3cent/lb, and that of U.S. cotton was 84.2cent/lb. Some U.S. long staple cotton arrived.

Conclusion:

Cotton imports are expected to continue to reduce in Jun, and Brazilian cotton will remain the top import variety.