Cotton imports decline

Some serious clothing-related news for the blog now as it’s been reported that China, the world's largest cotton consumer, reduced its imports by 30 percent in October from a year earlier as demand for clothing and textiles slowed, according to China Cotton Association estimates.

Number crunching: China imported 96,200 metric tons, which is still down 30 percent from October 2007 and imports since the start of the marketing year on September 1 totaled 225,200 tons, down 39 percent from a year earlier, Bloomberg News said.

China's cotton crop may total 7.8 million tons this year, the association estimated. It produced 7.62 million tons last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.