Textile firms look beyond US imports curbs

20 Jul '05

4 min read

Chinese textile firms are determined to streamline their export products and expand further into the world market as the United States threatens to slam its doors to several lines of China-made textile and garment products.

"It's a top priority for us to diversify our products and further tap the world market," said a business executive from Youngor based in the city of Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province. "We must not cling to the US market alone."

"Domestic companies have to set up their own early warning systems," he said in a telephone interview with Xinhua Tuesday but declined to be named. "We'd be in a passive and embarrassing position if we hastily seek countermeasures only after other countries have imposed restrictions."

As one of China's most recognized name brands for garments, Youngor has avoided production of "100 percent cotton" shirts and jackets after the United States slapped quotas on Chinese-made cotton-knitted shirts and pants.

Yet most textile firms are sober-minded at the US restrictions.

"We cannot get anywhere by criticizing the United States alone, " said Jin Changyi, general manager of Golden Globe Textile Corp in the provincial capital Hangzhou. "The only thing we can do at the moment is to fix our production and marketing strategies to minimize the impacts of such restrictions."

To be specific, Jin said his company will focus on the Middle East and African markets and will increase the proportion of high-end products, particularly genuine silk garments.

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