China is likely to work out a method to monitor the country's
textile exports to the European Union when the current agreement on
textile trade expires at the end of this year.
The Ministry of Commerce yesterday organized a meeting with
major textile and garment exporters to discuss ways to avoid abrupt
export increases to the EU next year, according to sources.
When quotas on textile trade were removed worldwide in 2005,
China saw such a robust growth in textile and garment exports to
some major markets, including the United States and the European
Union that many foreign competitors feared "Made in China" textile
products would wipe out their local industries.
Their fears were allayed when China reached agreements with the
two economies to cap the growth rate of textile trade in 2005.
Many textile exporters, in particular those focused on the
European market, are waiting for a possible policy step by the
government as China's largest trading event, the Canton Fair, is
due to open next Monday, said an official with a Guangdong-based
textile company who declined to be named.
Many US and European buyers place orders for the next year at
this fair. A new regulation will affect these new orders.
China's textile exports to the EU are not expected to see sharp
increases next year, experts said.
The country is expected to see a steady growth in textile
exports to the European Union, Wang Shenyang, chairman of the China
Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textile, said at his
meeting with representatives of some European textile industry
associations.
China's textile exports to the EU increased just 5.5 percent in
the first five months this year over the same period last year.
The fast growth in textile trade in 2005 had triggered serious
conflicts between the two economies.
(China Daily October 10, 2007)
