China to make own cotton standards

China is planning to make its own version of the Better Cotton Initiative standards so as to promote a comprehensive set of principles and standards for the supply of high-quality cotton.

Experts said that the present technical requirements carried out by BCI, such as banning the use of certain pesticides that have actually been prohibited in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region for more than 30 years, are actually low, and mainly focus on controlling the resources of cotton instead of certifying the quality. The cotton program will mainly focus on improving production efficiency by digitalization, a fully traceable production process, low-carbon production and high-quality cotton farming.