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Textile manufacturers and exporters in China said on Sunday that they were
outraged by the "hasty and unwise" decision of the United States to re-impose
quotas on imports of three types of Chinese clothing, warning that such a
decision would hurt both sides badly.
"The US dec
ision is both hasty and unfair, as it was based on the
controversial statistics from the American side, which only covered the first
three months of the year," said Yang Weidong, general manager of Jifa Textile
Group Co. Ltd., a leading textiles producer in east China's Shandong Province.
Although exports of his company to the United States have increased by 30
percent in the past four months as against last year's figure, a large
proportion of them were actually ordered last November and December, said Yang.
"I have received no orders from US importers since Washington launched
investigation on China imports in April, and my US business partners even
recalled orders worth more than 3 million US dollars over the period," he
complained.
The US Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements announced on
Friday a 7.5-percent cap on the annual increase of imports of China-made cotton
shirts, trousers and man-made fiber underwear, based on its observation that an
import surge from China had "caused market disruption" in the United States.
China's Ministry of Commerce immediately voiced its strong opposition to
this decision, which it said had "run counter to World Trade Organization's
agreements" and "set a very bad precedent."
The ministry recorded a 19.1 percent growth for China's textiles and
clothing exports to the United States in the first quarter this year, which was
5.6 percent lower than in the same period of last year.
"Actually, following a soaring momentum in the first two months,exports
growth to the United States has been declining since earlyMarch," said a source
with the Beijing-based China Textile Industry Association.
Ning Jinyun, general manager of Tianjin Textile Import and Export Inc. in
north China, said that the company, which sold textiles and clothing worth more
than 20 million US dollars to theUnited States last year, was forced to accept
small American orders only this year for "serious concerns about the risks."
"This is really abnormal and painful for a big company like us," said Ning,
who was also deeply worried that other countries and regions might follow the
example of the United States and "make things harder for the Chinese
manufacturers and exporters."
Yuan Zhongjian, general manager of the Shanghai-based Cliff Knitwear Co.
Ltd., questioned if the US administration had made a wise decision by
"re-imposing quota in the post-quota era under the WTO regime."
"They claimed that such a decision had defended thousands of American jobs,
but couldn't they see that it would also make millions of Americans pay more for
their clothing and affect billions of dollars in American business?" asked Yuan.
According to Yuan, when the old quota system was in place, the cost of
every piece of exported Chinese textile products would be raised by at least 10
percent. "Now the nightmare is returning in just less than half a year," he
said.
Hu Guocheng, a researcher with the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, echoed Yuan's opinion, saying that theUS ceiling on China imports will
"induce more harm to US retailersand consumers than possible benefits to
American textile manufacturers."
Industry insiders say that as a result of the hasty US decision,most
Chinese textile manufacturers are not well-prepared and the newly-imposed quota
might be used up in two to four months.
"By that time, they will have only two options: either to explore new
markets or to stop production and even go bankruptcy,"they predict.
Textile companies in Shandong, one of the country's leading textile
manufacturing and export bases, are already considering major production cuts as
well as a sharp cut in their cotton imports. Last year the province imported
465,000 tons of cotton, including 182,000 tons from the United States.
Source: Xinhua
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