URUMQI, April 3 -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the country's major cotton producer, has entered its cotton sowing period this year, local agricultural authorities said.

Major cotton-producing counties in southern Xinjiang have started spring sowing and are expected to see the sowing peak around early April. Cotton sowing in northern Xinjiang is forecast to begin after April 5.

The region's agricultural authorities said Xinjiang's total cotton production will remain stable at more than 5 million tonnes this year.

Thanks to its unique temperature and sunlight conditions, Xinjiang has become the largest cotton-producing area in China and an important one in the world. Over the years, Xinjiang has been improving its intensive large-scale cotton planting. At present, 94 percent of the region's cotton planting and harvest have been done by machinery.

In 2022, more than 2.47 million hectares of cotton were sown in the region, with an overall output of 5.39 million tonnes, accounting for more than 90 percent of China's total cotton output.