Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the biggest cotton production base in China, produced 3.5 million metric tons (tonnes) of cotton in 2015, down 174,000 tonnes or 4.73 percent from last year, according to the latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics.
The region's cotton planting area this year fell 2.5 percent year on year. Xinjiang's cotton output accounts for 62.5 percent of the nation's total cotton production in 2015, 3 percentage points higher than last year.
Last year, the region started to pilot a target price mechanism for cotton production. Under the mechanism, the government will give subsidies directly to farmers if market prices drop below the target price.
The reform has pushed a change in Xinjiang's cotton production and gradually made cotton concentrated in suitable growing areas, thus raising profitability in cotton planting.
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