Shanghai, Oct 14 - China issued 2009 low-tariff import quotas for cotton at 894,000 tonnes, unchanged from this year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Monday.
China is the world's largest producer and consumer of cotton. It imported 1.6 million tonnes of cotton in the first eight months of this year, according to official customs data.
China's upcoming cotton harvest will hold steady at last year's record level of 8 million tonnes, but a shortage remains due to a slowdown in the growth of textile production and exports, leaving room for imports.
Cotton imports within quota are subject to a 1 percent import tariff. If exports exceed the quota, the tariffs would vary and could be as high as 40 percent.
The NDRC, the country's top economic planning body, also issued 2009 low-tariff import quotas for wheat at 9.6 million tonnes, for corn at 7.2 million tonnes and for rice at 5.3 million tonnes.
Those numbers are unchanged from the quotas for 2008.
In the first eight months of the year, China imported just 7,908 tonnes of wheat, 15,288 tonnes of corn and 240,361 tonnes of rice, the official data shows.
A bumper wheat harvest means most of the quotas will not be utilised.
End-users can apply for the quotas from Oct. 15 to Oct. 30, the NDRC statement said.