A worker picks cotton at a farmland in Awati county, Aksu Prefecture in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on October 10, 2018. The county is praised as “the home of long-staple cotton” in China. Photo: cnsphoto

The China Cotton Association (CCA) issued on Thursday a set of production standards for China's cotton industry to fill up any gaps and promote the image of Chinese cotton.

The launch of the industry standards came in a moment when China's cotton and textile industry is going through a stage of high-quality development. However, due to the lack of influential independent brands and production standards, it is easy to succumb to competition in the international textile and apparel industry, a source with the CCA said on Thursday.

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a cotton industry organization based in Switzerland, decided in March to suspend the certification of cotton from Xinjiang on the ground that it has become increasingly difficult to conduct a credible due diligence in the region, echoing Western accusations of alleged forced labor abuses in the region.

The boycott over Xinjiang cotton by some foreign brands for political purposes once again served as a reminder to domestic industry representatives of the need to speed up the development of China's own brands to reduce the heavy reliance on foreign partners, industry insiders mentioned.

Through the establishment of industry standardization, the association will create Chinese cotton products of fine quality by Chinese brands, allowing more people to better understand Chinese cotton, according to media reports.

Through the new standards, the association is also helping growers to further improve production methods, ensure the supply of high-quality cotton and safeguard the rights and interests of workers.

Data provided by the China Cotton Industry Alliance show that cotton produced in Xinjiang in 2020 accounted for 20.8 percent of global output while China's raw cotton consumption reached 7.99 million tons the same year. 

The high-quality Xinjiang cotton has a great demand in the Chinese market, Cao Huiqing, an official of the CCA said in a media interview.