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China:Textile exports may slow down fearing
imminent protectionist measures |
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2005-3-30
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 A slowdown is expected in the growth of the country’s textile and clothing exports after an initial surge early this year that prompted a series of safeguard measures against Chinese producers, informed a commerce ministry official yesterday.
Rather than going wholehog for boosting trade volume, the Vice Minister of Commerce Zhang Zhigang called on Chinese textile producers to aim for boosting value to their output.
Textile exports to USA have risen dramatically by 28.1 percent, year-on-year to US $9.34 billion, forcing Zhang to comment: “We are not trying to aim at increasing the quantity of textile products," at a global textile forum in Beijing.
During the same period, textile exports alone were up 34.6 percent to US $5.26 billion.
This increase had brought to the fore the question of the possible imposition of safeguard measures by textile and apparel producers in the United States and European Union on Chinese imports. Zhang maintained that the export jump was only short term and reiterated Chinese warnings against a rise in protectionism from among importing nations.
"This is a short-term phenomenon. It will not be like this for a long time," he said.
As a step to avoid imposition of protectionist barriers, Zhang explained that "initial progress has been made" by introducing duties on garments and proposing a minimum pricing system for manufacturers thus restricting Chinese textile and clothing exports.
On the other hand, Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Gao Yan said at the forum that 415 textile and clothing makers, contributing more than half of Chinese exports to the United States and Europe had agreed to the new pricing system. |
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