An aerial drone photo shows a cotton picker operating in a field in Xayar County of Aksu, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Su Chuanyi)

URUMQI, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has recorded a record cotton output of over 6 million tonnes in 2025, official data showed on Friday.

The region produced 6.165 million tonnes of cotton this year, accounting for 92.8 percent of the national total, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Xinjiang's cotton planting area has expanded to nearly 38.88 million mu (about 2.59 million hectares), which was up 5.9 percent year on year, and its average yield has come in at 158.6 kilograms per mu, up 2.4 percent year on year.

Favorable weather conditions throughout the growing season helped boost output, with strengthened policy support, advances in agricultural technology, and improved talent development also contributing to higher productivity, experts say.

The overall mechanization rate of cotton cultivation and harvesting in Xinjiang is expected to exceed 97.5 percent this year, boosting large-scale, mechanized and intelligent cotton production further.

Xinjiang remains China's largest cotton-producing region. The country's cotton output has risen 7.7 percent from 2024, totaling 6.641 million tonnes in 2025.