Pressure is building for China's National Development and Reform Commission to launch a support program for Xinjiang cotton, and it appears two options are under consideration. The first is to issue an additional bundled import quota tying import quotas to the purchase of Xinjiang cotton. This option has been used in the past, but was slow to implement due to the required excessive paperwork and documentation. The second choice is to purchase the excess unsold Xinjiang cotton for the state reserves.

Private estimates suggest that Xinjiang merchants, including the Production and Construction Corps, are holding one million tons of 2007/08 crop, resulting in financial burdens for the industry. Merchant losses are building with each passing month of interest and storage costs.