Uruguay says it has taken 600,000 tons of cotton to rescue the global cotton market

Uzbekistan is the world’s third-largest cotton exporter. Uzbekistan said today it has sold 600,000 tons of cotton for sale, aiming to take advantage of the surge in global prices.

The Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations of the Central Asian countries stated in a statement: "Uzbekistan has already sold 600,000 tons of cotton fiber from this year's cotton for sale."

Uzbekistan's Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyayev praised his country’s cotton harvest at the annual cotton trade show in the country. His officials expect that cotton exports will earn 500 million U.S. dollars.

However, he added that Uzbekistan plans to cut raw cotton exports in order to develop its own cotton processing industry.

He said: "We are planning to increase domestic cotton processing to 70% by 2015."

Uzbekistan cotton is mainly exported to China, Bangladesh, Iran, Pakistan and Russia. This year it expects to produce 1.1 million tons of cotton fiber.

Uzbekistan is the sixth largest cotton producer in the world, with an average raw cotton production of about 3.5 million tons and cotton fiber production of 1.2 million tons.