China’s Measures to Stop Disorderly Competition

     China's apparel and textile industry is expected to establish a mechanism with powerful measures to stop disorderly export competition, especially in terms of price. The measures may include a minimum price for sensitive exports, with those exporting below the prices being placed on a customs' blacklist, which means they would be put under tight supervision. And some companies will even lose the right to trade.

    A joint committee for textile export countermeasures has set out specific rules for the industry's self-discipline in exports, according to Wang Shenyang, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import & Export of Textiles (CCCT).  Apart from the chamber, the joint committee was attended by the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC), the China Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment (CAEFI), the Hong Kong General Chamber of Textiles, the Textile Council of Hong Kong and officials from the Ministry of Commerce.

The 6,000 member companies of the CCCT account for 70 per cent of China's total textile exports. Along with another four industrial organizations, they represent virtually all textile exporters from both the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong.

     The Chinese Government and the nation's textile industry have moved to ease the concerns of foreign counterparts who fear Chinese textiles will swamp the world market in the quota-free era. To address these concerns, especially from developing countries, China began to collect export duties on some textiles from January 1 this year, to quell export growth.

An automatic licence system for textile exports also took effect. The automatic approval will step up the statistical analysis and monitoring of China's textile export, to release timely warnings to traders on textile exports.

When the licence system finds a drastic surge in one category and issues an alarm, the category will be identified as a sensitive product and its minimum price will be announced.

        In the first two months of this year, China's textile exports enjoyed steady growth. For example, the exports of trousers to United States saw an eight-fold increase year-on-year while the average price dropped by 30%.

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