BEIJING, July 12 (Reuters) -China's Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday cut its forecast for cotton imports in the 2023/24 crop year on weaker-than-expected demand from textile enterprises.
Cotton imports are expected to be 1.45 million metric tons, the ministry said in its monthly China Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (CASDE), a reduction of 400,000 tons from last month's forecast.
Consumption will fall by 100,000 metric tons to 7.4 million metric tons, it said, due to weak textile exports and less raw material demand from textile manufacturers, the report said.
The overall growth of cotton is good, it added, though high temperatures have impacted cotton bud growth in some regions, the report said.
China's domestic sugar production and imports have declined, leaving domestic supplies tight, the report said.
Sugar sales for the first half of the year increased by 860,000 tons year-on-year to 6.88 million tons, the report said.
The sales rate has increased by 13.7 percentage points over the same period last year, it added.
Key numbers from the CASDE report are below.
