BEIJING — China's cotton output edged up this year, official data showed.

Cotton output stood at 5.91 million tons, up 0.4 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The total area of cotton fields shrank 5.1 percent to around 3.17 million hectares, and the yield per hectare went up 5.7 percent to 1,864.5 kg per hectare.

Li Suoqiang, an official with the NBS, attributed the decline in the cotton planting area to the government's guidance on improving the quality and performance while controlling the planting areas in cotton cultivation.

Other factors include shrinking cultivation benefits and agricultural structure adjustment, Li said.

China's cotton output peaked in 2012 at 6.84 million tons, more than 2.2 times that of 1978, and continued to drop until a rebound in 2017.