Jun 18 (China Knowledge) - China, the world's largest cotton consumer, imported 346,000 tons of cotton in May this year, 156,000 tons or 31.1% less than in the same month of 2012, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs.

Cotton imports in May reflected a 19.7% decrease from April.

In the first five months of this year, China's cotton imports fell 16.9% year on year to 2.14 million tons.

In the first nine months of the 2012 cotton season, the country's cotton imports decreased 740,000 tons or 17.4% year on year to 3.51 million tons.

Meanwhile, China saw its yarn output amount to 26.16 million tons in the first nine months of the 2012 cotton season, reflecting a year on year increase of 12.4%.