(Yicai Global) March 25 -- Shares of Anta Sports Products were moving wildly after the Chinese sportswear firm said that it will continue using cotton made in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region despite the canceled sustainability marking.

Anta's stock price jumped in Hong Kong today and plunged in the US yesterday. Its Hong-Kong-listed equity price [HKG:2020] rose as much as 7.8 percent to HKD120.60 (USD15.50) by noon.

However, its OTC Markets' shares in the US [OTCMKTS: ANPDF] slid as much as 6 percent to close at USD14.24 yesterday.

The retailer is ending its membership with the Better Cotton Initiative, the Fujian province-based company said in a statement on Weibo yesterday. It had joined the Swiss not-for-profit organization for sustainable cotton production in 2019.

Last March, the BCI suspended its licensing of cotton produced in Xinjiang, citing reasons such as "forced labor" and other "human rights violations." China's Foreign Ministry has denied the claims.

The licensing move has catalyzed some other fallouts. Hennes & Mauritz Group said yesterday that it must stop buying cotton produced in Xinjiang due to the Swedish fashion giant's long-term cooperation with BCI. Consequently, many Chinese e-commerce platforms, including JD.Com, Tmall, and Pinduoduo, stopped selling H&M products yesterday.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi