The two-way textiles and garments trade between China and the ASEAN countries surged to US$ 10.23 billion during the first half of the current year, registering a year-on-year rise of 40.8 percent, as per the data of the Chinese customs.
While Chinese textiles and garments exports to ASEAN nations reached US$ 9.3 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 41.1 percent, imports were worth US$ 930 million, showing a year-on-year increase of 38 percent.
The 41.1 percent surge in Chinese export to ASEAN is higher than the global average rise of 25.8 percent. During the January-June period, ASEAN accounted for 8.3 percent of China's textile and garment exports.
The establishment of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) in 2010 has enabled ASEAN to become the fastest growing region for China's textiles and garments exports.
A country-wise analysis of ASEAN countries reveals that Vietnam is ranked as 9th biggest market for China's textiles and garments exports. The ranks of other ASEAN countries are – Indonesia 17th, Malaysia 28th, Philippines 29th, Thailand 31st, Singapore 34th, Cambodia 42nd, and Myanmar 55th.
In 2010, China exported textiles and garments to ASEAN worth US$ 14.81 billion, registering a year-on-year increase of 35.7 percent.
For the first time, ASEAN has overtaken Hong Kong as the fourth largest market for Chinese exports, with an increase of 2 percent compared to 2009.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - China