Experts believe that rising cost of labor and a relative increase in the cost of production has squeezed the profits coming from silk cloth manufacturing. For instance, earlier, the cost of production of reeling silk was 20,000 Yuan per ton but now it is more than 30,000 Yuan per ton; which is up by over 50 percent. There were about 76 reeling silk enterprises in 2007 but presently Zhejiang Province is left with only 56 of which 36 enterprises are running at a loss. Experts believe that the situation is likely to get worse in the second half of this year, and appreciation of RMB is expected to make conditions more difficult.

• http://chineseculture.about.com/
• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/
• http://www.ccct.org.cn/