BEIJING, May 12 (Reuters) - China's cotton imports in 2010/2011 crop year will be "significantly" lower than the earlier prevailing market expectation of 3 million tonnes due to sluggish consumption, an industry website said on Thursday.

"China's cotton consumption between May to August, the traditional peak textile consumption season, is not optimistic," said a report published on www.cncotton.com, a website under China National Cotton Reserves Corp.

China's cotton imports in April were 210,400 tonnes, down 35 percent from the same period last year, the website cited customs data as saying on Wednesday. [ID:nL3E7GB1WK]

China imported 1.95 million tonnes of cotton in the first eight months of 2010/11 crop year started in September.

"With more and more cotton import contracts being cancelled recently, it's very hard for cotton imports in May-August to exceed the 800,000 tonnes in the same period last year," said the report.

However, high quality cotton supply is likely to be tight later this crop year as imports dwindle, it added.