China textile exports, profits rising sharply
Source: CCPITTEX-economictimes Date: 2007-10-29
China's textile exports are likely to jump 19 percent on year to $175.5 billion this year, while the industry's overall profits would rise 30 percent to 113.5 billion yuan ($15.16 billion), according to media reports on Saturday.
Citing official data, the newspaper said the Chinese textile industry's total revenue was expected to rise 20.3 percent to 2.92 trillion yuan in 2007.
Chinese officials have said the country's textile sector is gaining from greater technological sophistication and production capacity.
The industry saw steady output increase, slightly slowing export growth and decreasing imports in the first three quarters of this year, while prices of textile products rose, the official newspaper said.
The industry's profits are backed by strong domestic demand and rising purchases by Asian and African countries, it added.
Textile producers in Europe are worried that the European Union will face a surge of imports from China from Jan. 1 once quotas expire for EU. Quotas in the United States and other countries run on until the end of 2008.
EU and Chinese trade officials have been seeking to avoid a repeat of the 2005 "Bra Wars" row when problems with quotas of Chinese textiles exports led to millions of items of clothing piling up in ports.
Earlier this month, the European Commission said it had struck a deal with China for monitoring the trade in textiles once quotas expire on Jan. 1.
