Chen Liying/Shanghai Daily news

The Ministry of Commerce has released a draft plan that will allocate textile export quotas to the European Union, which industry officials say will benefit big foreign-invested exporters and major private firms whose outbound shipments surged in the first half.
The draft plan, a follow-up decision after a Sino-EU deal to resolve a textile dispute, will cover exports to the EU market from July 15 until the end of the year. The plan is subject to changes next year.
Overall, domestic textile companies will be assigned the quotas according to their export value in the 12 months previous to July 15 this year, Lu Jianhua, director of foreign trade department of the ministry, told a meeting attended by local foreign trade authorities to discuss the plan.
According to the draft, those exporters who have more overseas shipments this year would gain an advantage in the quota allocation process.
Exports realized this year will account for 70 percent of the total export value a company achieves while those shipped out last year account for 30 percent, according to the draft.
In addition, exports after January 1, when global textile quotas were eliminated, will be divided into those bound for markets with restrictions like the EU and the United States, and the those without such curbs.
Exports to markets with restrictions will account for 70 percent, while those without restrictions will account for 30 percent in the measurement.
An official version based on the draft is expected as early as today, according to Lu.
"The plan bases the quotas on export value instead of volume which is aimed at leveraging the benefits of companies that export higher priced textiles but in smaller quantities," Lu said.
"It encourages textile firms to sell products with higher added value, thus optimizing the export mix to avoid future trade disputes," he added.
The draft plan is a result of gathering feedback and opinions from textile firms, local economic and trade authorities and industry experts.
Government officials believed this plan is fair, but the response from  textile companies was mixed.
"The plan will benefit big foreign-invested textile makers that have stable and large amount of orders after the lifting of the quotas and some major private firms which grabbed the opportunities to export as much products as possible this year," said Yang Shunchen, an official with Jiangsu Hongdou Industrial Co Ltd, a Jiangsu Province-based listed textile exporter.
"For companies with seasonal export plans like focusing on winter wear, or state companies which will export according to government plans, the new scheme runs against them," he added.
Zheng Qiwei with Shartex International Trading Co Ltd, a Shanghai private textile exporter, said most Shanghai firms can't be fairly treated here because they usually export goods with higher value but in smaller quantities compared with their counterparts in Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. But the plan will comfort most exporters, he said.