The area of cotton planting in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region reached 40.9 million mu (2.73 million hectares) in 2025, up 3.3 percent year-on-year, according to a report released by the China Cotton Association (CCA) on Thursday.

In total, China's cotton planting area reached 44.823 million mu, maintaining a positive momentum, the CCA report said, noting that the country's cotton planting area has remained stable and the current weather conditions in Xinjiang are favorable for cotton production.

Xinjiang is China's largest cotton-producing region, contributing 92.2 percent of the country's total cotton output in 2024, reaching a record high, according to the Xinjiang regional department of agriculture and rural affairs.

Certain Western officials and media outlets have previously sought to smear Xinjiang cotton with unfounded allegations such as "forced labor." However, those claims have been effectively debunked, and the West's crackdown attempt has failed to hold back the industry's stable development, according to Li Guoxiang, a research fellow at the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Xinjiang cotton is now primarily used to meet the vast domestic demand, with limited exports, marking a shift from an export-oriented model to one centered on domestic consumption, Li told the Global Times on Thursday, noting that China's market is so big that it actually imports a certain amount of cotton each year.

The strength of Xinjiang's cotton industry stems not only from robust domestic demand, but also from its distinct, high-quality output, which remains difficult to replace in the market, according to the expert.

A separate industry report released in May showed that in 2024, Xinjiang not only maintained stable cotton production but also saw continued improvements in quality, with high-grade cotton measuring more than 28mm in length accounting for 98.1 percent of the total output.

Li noted that several factors have solidified Xinjiang's role as China's leading cotton-producing region, including favorable natural conditions, high per-unit yields, and superior quality, particularly its rich reserves of long-staple cotton. He also pointed to the high degree of mechanization in harvesting, which enhances production efficiency, as well as strong policy support.

In addition, projects aimed at enhancing the efficiency and quality of the cotton industry are progressing steadily. For example, the Sustainable Cotton Development Program, initiated and implemented by the CCA in Xinjiang, has achieved notable progress. So far, 1.2 million mu of certified cotton fields in the region have yielded a total of 430,000 tons of sustainable cotton, China Media Group reported on Thursday.