The East China cotton crop is now threatened by an evolving pattern of very violent storms; however to the west, the agricultural juggernaut of Xinjiang, is seeing its crop develop well with only minor problems. In Kashi, a shortage of irrigation water has been noted throughout Jiashi County, and the crop has experienced some stress. A very unusual summer storm in mid-July hit the Talimu area, with heavy rain of 23 millimeters falling over a two-hour period, along with high winds and hail. Some PCC cotton acreage was damaged.

Despite these relative minor setbacks, the overall Xinjiang crop is doing well, with yields on the PCC farms to equal or exceed last year. The crops on the PCC farms of Division 8, 147th Regiment and Division 6, 103/05 Regiment appear set to reach new records.

Without the early arrival of fall storms, the provinces could possibly achieve outturn of 3.0 million tons, up from the unofficial output estimate of 2.85 million tons in 2006/07.