China's textile, garments export drops 11 pc
Saturday, 12 July 2008
BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua): China's export of textiles and garments fell 11 per cent year-on-year to 81.68 billion US dollars in the first half of this year, the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) reported yesterday.
Industry watchers attributed the decline to the migration of textile and garment production from China to cheaper neighbouring countries and a consumption crunch sparked by the ongoing credit crisis that originated in the United States last year.
Other factors, including a stronger Chinese currency and mounting labour and material costs, have left textile makers, once an export engine, in a tough spot.
The number of US buyers fell 23.3 per cent year-on-year at this year's 103rd Canton Fair, or the China Import and Export Fair held in south China's Guangdong, while those from France and Germany were down 11.8 per cent and 9.5 per cent, respectively.
The GACC said in a report that the country should monitor the shift of production to other countries and evaluate what part higher labor costs played in that movement.
It also called on the country's central and western regions to play a bigger role in boosting the industry.
Increasing cost pressures had resulted in a production transfer from the economically prosperous eastern region to the central and western regions where labor and production costs were comparatively lower, the China National Garment Association said earlier this week.
Industry watchers attributed the decline to the migration of textile and garment production from China to cheaper neighbouring countries and a consumption crunch sparked by the ongoing credit crisis that originated in the United States last year.
Other factors, including a stronger Chinese currency and mounting labour and material costs, have left textile makers, once an export engine, in a tough spot.
The number of US buyers fell 23.3 per cent year-on-year at this year's 103rd Canton Fair, or the China Import and Export Fair held in south China's Guangdong, while those from France and Germany were down 11.8 per cent and 9.5 per cent, respectively.
The GACC said in a report that the country should monitor the shift of production to other countries and evaluate what part higher labor costs played in that movement.
It also called on the country's central and western regions to play a bigger role in boosting the industry.
Increasing cost pressures had resulted in a production transfer from the economically prosperous eastern region to the central and western regions where labor and production costs were comparatively lower, the China National Garment Association said earlier this week.