BEIJING — China's cotton output went down slightly this year, official data showed on Dec 14.

Cotton output stood at 5.73 million metric tons, down 3 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

However, cotton yield per hectare went up 1.5 percent to 1,892.6 kg per hectare thanks to favorable weather conditions and field management of cotton growers, according to Wang Minghua, an official with the NBS.

The total area of cotton fields shrank 4.4 percent from last year to around 3.03 million hectares, NBS data showed.