(Yicai Global) Dec. 17 -- China's production of cotton fell 3.5 percent this year partly because of decreases in the size of the area under cultivation and the yield per unit area, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Cotton output came in at 5.9 million tons, 213,000 tons less than last year, the NBS said in a statement today. The country's total area dedicated to cotton farming dipped 0.5 percent to 3.3 million hectares, while unit output fell 3.1 percent to 1,763.7 kilograms per hectare.

The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China's biggest cotton-growing area, accounted for a larger share of national production but its yield dropped. Its contribution inched up 1.2 percentage point to 84.9 percent of the total, while output fell 2.1 percent to 5 million tons.

Land for cotton production in Xinjiang jumped 2 percent over the previous year due to the implementation of subsidies in the region, while that of other regions and provinces slumped 7.5 percent, according to Huang Bingxin, a senior analyst at the NBS' department of rural surveys.

The unit cotton yield also declined nationwide, mainly due to climate disasters, Huang said, adding that during the critical period of cotton growth, natural disasters, such as sandstorms, high temperatures, hail, low temperatures and frost, frequently hit the main cotton-growing areas.

In addition to domestic production, China also imports a huge amount of the natural fiber to meet demand. It imported about 1.7 million tons in the first 10 months, an annual rise of 31.5 percent. Imported cotton yarns tallied about 1.6 million tons, a 7.1 percent drop.