China's November textile export growth hits two-year monthly high
25/12/2006 17:25
China's textile and clothing exports rose to US$12.72 billion in November,
up by 30.85 percent from November last year, the highest monthly growth in two
years, Customs figures show.
However, experts warned against believing the
high indicated a new wave of rapid export growth. "It's only a temporary
flourishing before fading away," the China Securities Journal reported
today.
The newspaper, run by Xinhua, attributed the hike to export firms that
were catching their last chance to benefit from higher export tax
rebates.
The Ministry of Commerce announced in September that tax rebates for
textile exports would be cut from 13 to 11 percent, but companies that signed
export contracts before Sept. 14 and cleared their goods through the customs
before Dec. 14 could still claim the original tax rebates.
The government had
hoped the measure would force domestic textile firms to be more aware of
technical innovations and to develop more products with proprietary intellectual
property rights.
The move coupled with the appreciation of Renminbi, however,
has pushed Chinese textile manufacturers to mark down their prices this year to
sustain their exports and offset the negative impact of the rising yuan.
"The
sudden hike in November will not last long. A decline will appear in December,"
said the newspaper, adding that overcapacity would continue to haunt the
industry despite the rising domestic demand.
Figures from the National Bureau
of Statistics show retail sales of clothing in China climbed 21.5 percent in
November. The growth was 7.4 percentage points higher than the average.
In
the future, the focus of China's textile and clothing industries would gradually
shift from abroad to home, said the newspaper.
After the European Union and
the United States set caps on China's textile exports in January, more than 69
percent of China-made textiles and clothing have gone to the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Republic of Korea and African
countries.
As the textile industries of India, Pakistan and ASEAN are
developing fast, domestic competitors could soon lose their comparative
advantages in costs, it said.
Xinhua
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