Only a week after China and the European Union reached an agreement on textile and garment trade, Chinese clothing firms have begun to see rewards from the deal.
Both orders and prices are on the rise.
The agreement cleared up uncertainties for importers and exporters and brought new opportunities for Chinese textile producers and traders, analysts said.
"Over the past week, our orders have recovered quickly," Li Lingmin, vice president of the China National Textiles Import & Export Corp, said on Saturday. "Prices are also on the rise. The gloomy days are gone."
The trade pact has dissipated most of the deep concern that set in when the United States and the EU announced earlier this year that they would impose import restrictions on Chinese textile and garments, after a surge in some items occurred when world textile quotas were lifted on January 1.
The effects of the restrictions were felt quickly. For instance, trade deals decreased at the China Import and Export Fair in Guangzhou last spring.
And just as quickly, the new deal has turned the market around.
Chinese clothing firms have generally welcomed the agreement reached by Chinese Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson in Shanghai on June 11.
Under the deal, the country's growth rate for exports of pullovers, trousers and blouses to the European Union will be limited to within 10 percent in 2006 and 2007, and sheets and table cloth will be restricted to 12.5 percent.
All the maximum growth rates contained in the memorandum of understanding are higher than the 7.5 percent previously proposed by the European Union.
For its part, the EU has agreed to stop investigations on 10 categories of textile products from China: cotton cloth, T-shirts, pullovers, trousers, blouses, sheets, dresses, brassieres, table cloth and flax yarn.
Chinese firms have said the agreement has created a stable environment for the manufacture and export of textiles and garments.
"It not only created a stable environment for exports of the 10 categories, but also created favorable development conditions for exports of other categories," said Gao Yong, vice chairman of the China National Textile and Apparel Council.
Though Li did not specify figures on orders and prices, many textile firms reached by Xinhua confirmed that business was getting better.
Although critics have blamed the restriction of textile imports by the EU and the United States as "protectionism," Chinese businessmen like Li said the China-EU deal is a "pragmatic" and "good" agreement.
"It was the fruit of high wisdom," he said.