China imports more textile machinery in first eight months

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BEIJING, Nov 26 (Xinhua): China bought from abroad 3.14 billion US dollars worth of textile machinery in the first eight months of this year, a growth of 25.5 per cent on the same period of last year, sources with the General Administration of Customs said Saturday.
The growth rate was 14.5 per centage points higher than the year-earlier level, the sources added.
Between January and August, foreign-funded companies imported 1.43 billion US dollars worth of textile machinery, up 10.8 per cent year- on-year, private businesses imported 870 million dollars worth, up 73. 35 per cent, and state-owned enterprises, 680 million dollars, up 20.9 per cent.
Japan and the European Union were the major sources of the imports, accounting for 79 per cent of the total.
In the eight-month period, China bought 1.5 billion US dollars worth of textile machinery from the EU, up 29.7 per cent, and 980 million dollars worth from Japan, up 27.4 per cent.
The fast growth in imports was ascribed largely to mounting demand at home, needs for the high-end, advanced equipment in particular, which were shored up by efforts to expand production and improve productivity.
In the first seven months, retail sales of clothing went up 24.9 per cent, 9.4 per centage points higher than that for the nation's total. Major textile enterprises sold 75.25 per cent of their products on home markets, up 1.54 per centage points over the year-earlier level. All these translated to confidence about development prospects of the textile industry.
In the first five months, the industry invested 78.5 billion yuan ( 10.6 billion US dollars) in fixed assets, up 29.3 per cent.