BEIJING (Dow Jones)--China's cotton imports in December rose 28.7% on year to 216,716 metric tons, the General Administration of Customs said Thursday.

For the full year, China imported 1.53 million tons of cotton, down 27.7% on year.

In November last year, cotton imports reached 76,134 tons.

China is the world's largest cotton importer and gets most of its supplies from producing countries such as the U.S., Uzbekistan and Australia.

-By Chuin-Wei Yap, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7704; [email protected].

Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=k%2BaPAzPzNzvzjQfOJn8%2FEg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.