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

Cotton produced in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is of higher quality than the production requirements specified by Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), said Cao Huiqing, official of China Cotton Association, the Economic Daily reported on Tuesday. 

Cao noted that the production requirements made by BCI such as not using chemical pesticides including DDT and hexachlorocyclohexane, was achieved by Xinjiang cotton about 30 years ago. 

Chemicals listed in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants which is hazard for environment and human health are not acceptable by BCI, according to the Better Cotton Principles & Criteria of BCI.

"Xinjiang cotton production companies had long fulfilled the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which restricts the use of hazardous chemicals and the standards observed in Xinjiang are much stricter than BCI requirements," said Cao.

Data provided by China Cotton Industry Alliance (CCIA) shows that cotton produced in Xinjiang in 2020 accounted for 20.8 percent of global output, and China's raw cotton consumption reached 7.99 million tons. Cao said that the high-quality Xinjiang cotton is greatly demanded in the Chinese market.