The unit price of Chinese textile exports to the United States and the European Union last year dropped considerably, which may lead to more antidumping measures from the two markets this year, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles said.

Figures from Chinese customs show that in the first eleven months of 2005, the country exported 1.29 billion pieces of knitgoods worth 3.93 billion U.S. dollars to the United States, with average unit price reaching 3.05 U.S. dollars, down 43.69 percent year on year.

The average unit price of cotton-made knitgoods and chemical-fiber knitgoods dropped 43.37 percent and 36.25 percent year on year during the period.

The chamber of commerce said the export unit price for tatting apparel, cotton yarn, chemical-fiber yarn and carpet to the United States also dropped.

During the period, the average unit price of Chinese cotton yarn and cotton-made knitting clothing to the European Union dropped 21.56 percent and 13.17 percent.

Insiders attribute the slipping unit price to the heated competition among Chinese companies for the limited textile quotas to the United States and the European Union.

In fact, the unit price level of Chinese textile and apparel export to other markets except the United States and European Union is rising, the chamber of commerce said.

In 2005, the United States and the European Union started strict limitations upon the rocketing textile import from China, which was caused by the elimination of global textile quotas at the beginning of the year.

The Chinese government held rounds of textile talks with the two trade partners, resulting in two agreements in this area that set expectable quotas upon future Chinese textile exports.

The new deal allows China's exports of most clothing and textile categories to the United States to grow at 10 to 15 percent in 2006, 12.5 to 16 percent in 2007 and 15 to 17 percent in 2008.

With an agreed base quantity, the annual growth of China's textile export to the EU market is set to be limited between 8 percent and 12.5 percent from June 11, 2005 to the end of 2007.

In order to get the quotas, many have to lower their export prices, which may further lead to antidumping actions by the two markets, the chamber of commerce said.

The organization advises Chinese textile enterprises to quickly improve their export structure and export more products with high added value, so as to avoid new trade barriers.

During the January-November period of 2005, China's textile export to the European Union grew 58.6 percent to 16.97 billion U.S. dollars, and that to the United States grew 67.2 percent to 16.78 billion U.S. dollars. Enditem

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