Imports of clothing from China on a downslide

20 Aug '10

2 min read

Chinese garment companies seem to more favor apparel orders from European and American markets than from Japan, because Japan has increased stringently, requirements on imports of textile and clothing this year, due to which, some Chinese garment factories have been reluctant to take orders from Japan.

Once Japan revises preferential tariff system relating to product imports from developing countries, it would mean that cost of apparels imported from China would increase and in turn the Japanese would pressurize the Chinese exporters to lower prices.

Textile and garment exports to the Europe and the United States have resumed significant growth, but exports to Japan are still not optimistic. China's textile garment exports reached US $85.82 billion from January to June this year, up 22.1 percent year on year.

The EU, US and Japan continued to remain major destinations of China's textile and apparel exports. Exports to EU registered $17.88 billion, up 18.4 percent year on year; to the US, they fetched $13.3 billion, up 28.1 percent year on year and those to Japan reached $9.13 billion, an increase of only 1.1 percent, year on year.

Japan implemented preferential tariff system in 1971 and as of April 2009, 140 countries and 14 regions in total enjoy preferential tariffs in the exports to Japan, including China. Under current preferential framework, the maximum limit of utilization by a country is 20 percent.

The adjustment program of Japanese Ministry of Finance is to readjust the cap to 10 - 15 percent. The adjustment program is scheduled for consideration this fall by relevant government bodies. The adjusted preferential tariff will be implemented in next fiscal year.

Fibre2fashion News Desk

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