A spokesman with the China National Textile Industry Council
denied the allegation that China's increased textile export has
disrupted the market order of other countries, the overseas edition
of the Beijing-based People's Daily reported Monday.
Spokesman Sun Huaibin accused the United States and European
Union (EU) of violating the rules of the World Trade Organization
by imposing restriction to curb China's textile exports.
He cited cotton underclothes as an example. In the January-March
period of this year, China's overall export of cotton underclothes
grew only 17 percent, he said.
Meanwhile, according to the statistics of the US customs,
although China's exports of cotton underclothes to the US grew 308
percent in the period, the volume accounted for only half of those
imported to the United States from Honduras during the same
period.
It is hard to say that China grabbed others' textile market
shares, he noted.
According to Sun, in the first three months of 2005, China's
textile export volume amounted to 22.91 billion US dollars, an
increase of 18.99 percent over the same period last year. The
growth rate was down 5.95 percent over the first quarter of the
previous year.
China's textile exports to the United States and the EU grew
56.07 percent during the period, 31.16 percent higher than the
corresponding period of 2004.
He ascribed the increased export to the U.S. and the EU to the
abolishment of the worldwide quota system on certain textile
products on Jan. 1.
Meanwhile, Sun acknowledged that China's textile industry
reported a stable growth in the first three months of this year,
mainly due to strong domestic demand.
The EU executive commission last Thursday decided to open an
inquiry into Chinese exports to Europe of nine categories of
clothing, a move that could lead to the imposition of formal limits
on such shipments.
The EU fears its textile industry is being harmed by cheaper
products from China.
(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2005)
