Prospects for Chinese textile exports are
looking increasingly unpredictable and
unstable this year, an official with the
Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
Liu Haiquan, deputy director of the
Ministry of Commerce''s planning and
finance department, made the remarks at a
press conference on the nation''s foreign
trade situation during the ongoing 97th
session of the Chinese Export Commodities
Fair.
"Both the United States and European
Union took protectionist measures to cut
textile imports from China earlier this
month," he said. "Several
developing countries are also putting
barriers in the way of China''s textile
exports."
Following the United States announcement
on April 4 that it would act to stem the
flow of imports of cotton trousers, cotton
and knitwear shirts, as well as cotton and
chemical-fibre underwear from China, the
European Union adopted guidelines to
oversee textile imports from China earlier
this month.
Turkey has also taken protectionist
measures against imports of 42 categories
of textiles from China, while another
60-odd developing countries are set to
follow suit.
Liu said that the fast growth of exports
is reasonable in the light of the
globalization of the textile trade and the
rise can be attributed to the
protectionist measures taken by key
importing countries, including the United
States and EU member countries, during the
10 years before textile trade quotas were
lifted worldwide on January 1 this year.
Official statistics indicate that China''s
textile exports were worth US$22.4 billion
in the first quarter of this year, up 19.1
per cent from the comparable period in
2004.
Textile exports to the United States were
worth US$3.5 billion in the first three
months of this year, up 70.5 per cent,
while exports to the European Union were
up 48.3 per cent for a total of US$3.9
billion.
The Chinese textile industry employs 18
million people and China firmly opposes
any WTO members'' efforts to prolong the
quota system in any form, said Liu.
China does not encourage its enterprises
to succeed in the global market simply by
increasing export volume.
According to the official, China has
recently taken several steps to encourage
related enterprises to upgrade their
products, so that the textile trade can
make a stable transition to the new market
demands.
Ministry of
Commerce - China
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