China cotton imports: Australian cotton becomes the top in Jul, 2026

China cotton imports: imports were 91.6kt in July 2026, up 38.5kt from the same period of last year, but down 18.2kt from previous month. From Jan to July 2026, imports totaled 1.0263 million tons, up 100% or 513.2kt year-on-year, and from Sep 2025 to July 2026, imports amounted to 1.5064 million tons, up 53.7% or 526.1kt from the same period of 2024/25 season.

Import details in Jul, 2026

The table above lists China's major cotton import sources, ordered by import volume from highest to lowest. Of the 91.6kt of cotton imported by China in Jul, Australia became the top supplier, with a volume of 54.8kt, a year-on-year increase of 22kt and 24kt from Jun. Brazilian cotton imports reached 17.2kt, up 13kt year-on-year but down 27kt month-on-month. U.S. cotton imports amounted to 6.2kt, a year-on-year increase of 2kt and down by 12kt from Jun.

In terms of import shares for Jul 2026, Australian cotton accounted for 60%, down 2 percentage points from the same period in 2025 but up 32 percentage points from Jun (28%); Brazilian cotton made up 19%, up 10 percentage points from 9% a year earlier but down 21 percentage points from Jun; and U.S. cotton represented 7%, flat from Jul 2025 and down 9 percentage point from 16% in previous month.

For the terms of trade, the share of ordinary trade in Jul was at 21%, up 2 percentage point from Jun. The combined proportion of entrepot trade by bonded area and customs warehousing trade accounted for stood at 71%, down 1 percentage points from 72% in Jun. The proportion of processing with imported materials reduced by 1 percentage point from Jun to 8%.

In Jul, enterprises from Shandong, Beijing and Jiangsu ranked top three in cotton imports: Shandong's share rose by 3 percentage points to 51%. Beijing's share increased 1 percentage points to 16%. Jiangsu's share rose 3 percentage points to 16%.

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.

Australian cotton import volumes were the largest in Jul 2026. In Jul 2026, China imported 54.8kt of Australia cotton, up 24.1kt month-on-month and 21.6kt year on year; in the first seven months of 2026, imports amounted to 152.7kt, an increase of 79.8kt compared with the same period last year. For the 2025/26 marketing year (Sep-Jul), China imported 353kt of Australian cotton, up 126.5kt from the 226.5kt 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 Jul, the average price of Australian cotton was 87.28cent/lb, and that of Brazilian cotton was 75.25cent/lb.

Conclusion:

Cotton imports are expected to be steady, or slightly up in Aug, and Australia may remain the major supplier.