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Nations ill-prepared for textiles change

Production costs in China will likely rise in the years ahead, curbing runaway textile exports, but countries protesting the current surge should have been better prepared, analysts here said yesterday.

Following the end of quotas regulating the global apparel trade on Jan. 1, Chinese textile exports to Europe, the US and Asia have soared, rising in the EU as much as 534 percent for some garments.

The flood of Chinese exports has produced a chorus of calls from textile manufacturers in Europe and the US for special protection for their industries.

Yesterday, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson flew into Hong Kong and warned that it was in China's interest to cut textile exports to avoid retaliatory measures from the EU.

Speaking to reporters during a brief stopover, he said, "I urge China to take a look at the textile measures they have put in place already and explore whether they can do more in this sector."

Natural brake

Analysts in China predict that in coming years the country's labor and manufacturing costs will rise, and this will act as a natural brake on the current surge in exports.

In December, China's commerce ministry spokesman Chong Quan (崇泉) was quoted as stating that:"We will impose export duties on certain textile products ... This is part of a string of measures China will take to ensure a smooth transition for textile integration following the end of the quota system."

Chong was referring to the dismantling of the Multi Fiber Arrangement (MFA), established in 1975 which allocated quotas of clothing and textiles that can be exported by developing nations with inexpensive labor.

And though its end was widely expected to see a surge in exports from China, textile manufacturers in Europe and the US failed to restructure their industries ahead of time, analysts said here.

Fair play

"The Chinese are perfectly entitled to do this, and other governments have not been making the political choices towards the modernization of the industry," said Brad Glosserman, a China analyst at Pacific Forum CSIS in Hawaii.
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