China Dons Even Bigger Export Hat
An explosion in Chinese apparel and textile exports is fueling a backlash in the United States and Europe, while triggering labor shortages in China and job losses elsewhere.
The outcry was triggered this week by new data showing a sharp increase in China's clothing and textile exports in January. New Year's Day marked the expiration of a decades-old global quota system that had limited China's market share.
Unhindered by quotas, China's sales to the United States surged 65%, to $1.4 billion, compared with the same month last year, according to data released this week by the China National Textile and Apparel Council. Shipments to the European Union jumped 46% to $1.5 billion.
Even more stark was the increase in China's exports of cotton knit shirts and trousers, two of its most popular items. In January, China shipped nearly 27 million cotton trousers, up from 1.9 million a year earlier, according to a U.S. industry analysis of Chinese customs data. The Asian country shipped 18 million cotton knit shirts in January, up from 941,000.
Those statistics -- which will be accompanied by U.S. figures to be released today -- are further straining relations between China and its major trading partners. This week, the Italian government called on the European Union to impose tariffs on Chinese textiles and apparel. EU officials said they needed more information before taking such a step.
Meanwhile, U.S. manufacturers are set to hold a news conference in Washington today to urge the Bush administration to move quickly to impose controls on the most popular Chinese imports. They blame China for flooding the U.S. market with goods, triggering plant closures and thousands of job cuts in January and February.
An appeal last year by manufacturers for the U.S. government to restrict imports based on the threat of a surge in Chinese imports is tied up in court.
"This is no longer just a threat," said John Emrich, chief executive of Guilford, a Greensboro, N.C.-based textile maker. "Are they going to wait until the house is burned down and then call in the fire department?"
For their part, U.S. retailers are fighting import restraints, arguing that quotas were costly for them and their customers. Retailers also said the best way to help struggling foreign suppliers was for Congress to pass a proposed Central American Free Trade Agreement, which would expand opportunities for producers from that region.
