FTA with ASEAN will not make it easy for Chinese exporters
20 Nov '09
2 min read
Just over a month is remaining for the China - ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to come into effect on January 1, 2010, which means a more open and a large regional market will soon open its doors to the Chinese textile and garment industry.
This may sound like sweet music for the Chinese textile and apparel industry in particular as it is still reeling from the impact of the global recessionary trends, which has led to a slowdown down in demand from its key overseas markets.
According to the FTA agreement, China's exports of textiles, shoes and apparel products are expected to get zero-tariff treatment from the ASEAN countries, which will mean a larger market for Chinese exporters without any tariff restrictions and also may mean hopes of survival to many troubled export enterprises.
However, from a realistic point of view, it is still difficult to ascertain whether the ASEAN countries will really be able to fulfill the expectations of the exporters who are hoping that these markets will be able to generate good business, to make up for the shortfall in orders from developed countries.
On the other hand, many Chinese enterprises are already enjoying zero-tariff treatment from ASEAN countries through other free trade zones set up by 2002 in ASEAN countries, which means that relevant market development work has already been carried out.
Therefore, some experts and companies believe that it will be difficult to achieve a breakthrough in developing exports to the ASEAN market after the China - ASEAN FTA comes into force.
20240830145952.gif)
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
