Data released by the NBS revealed that cotton fabric output in February 2008 slowed to 1.861 billion square meters, up 17 percent year-on-year but down 2.77 percent from January. This downturn occurred after several months of averaging more than 2.3 billion square meters per month. For the September 2007 through February 2008 period, China produced 13.926 billion square meters of cotton cloth, an increase of 1.854 billion square meters or 15.36 percent year-on-year.