Domestic cotton prices will be high but stable this year, a senior official of the China Cotton Association (CCA) told an industry event on Friday.

Shi Jianwei, the CCA's vice president, said that domestic cotton prices had fluctuated only slightly so far in 2008. The price had been about 13,500 yuan (US$1,928) per ton recently, up 300 yuan since September.

Shi made these comments at the ongoing China Cotton Summit in the eastern province of Zhejiang. He said prices were stable because of stagnant demand, with yarn output standing at 11.85 million metric tons since September, 4 percent lower than the expected spinning yield.

Shi also forecast that domestic cotton prices would remain high, having reached a record high in late August.

Shi told Xinhua that domestic factors such as macro-control measures (lower rebate rates, higher interest rates and a sliding scale customs system) would be the determining factors in cotton pricing.

"The China Cotton Index has moved within a range of no more than seven percent, against a 60 percent movement in the New York futures market in the past seven months in the aftermath of the subprime crisis," said Shi.

"Despite the volatility in New York, there is little possibility for cotton prices to rally or decline sharply in China," he added.

The National Bureau of Statistics has said that total cotton output reached 7.6 million metric tons and the total cotton planting area was 5.59 million hectares in 2007, up 3.3 percent year-on-year.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2008)