Despite the approaching December 31 expiration of 2007 sliding-scale import quotas, China’s cotton imports only totaled 102,000 tons. This volume was far below expectations, falling 25.55 percent below October levels and 34.19 percent below year-ago volume. January through November cumulative cotton imports totaled 2,138,200 tons, down 1,264,900 tons from the previous year, leaving 458,000 tons of unused quotas as of December 1.