China’s textile exports: the quota-free era is gradually losing its luster

There are still more than two months until December 31, 2008. At that time, the United States will cancel its three-year quota restrictions on Chinese textiles, and China’s textile exports will also enter a quota-free era. Perhaps the old topic of “quotas” has worn away the patience of industries and companies, or perhaps everyone is busy “adding clothes” to themselves in this cold winter. For the upcoming new era, there are no enthusiastic calls from 4 years ago. , and it did not inspire any company’s ambitions.
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Since the second half of 2004, strategic analysis and discussion on the post-quota era has become an important issue for many companies, and many activities in the industry have also been launched around the theme of “opportunities and challenges”. After all, from January 1, 2005, world textile trade will be integrated, and China will end its 35-year textile quota system. It can be said that this moment of great significance announces the arrival of opportunities for world textile trade liberalization and global advantageous resource allocation.
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Is Chinese textiles that have been suppressed for 35 years have finally broke out? According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China, the country’s textile and apparel exports in 2005 were US$115.03 billion, an increase of 20.9%. However, this figure was misinterpreted as a “blowout” growth, and attracted the more severe “big stick” of protectionism. Various measures such as restrictions, trade barriers, and anti-dumping investigations were introduced. China’s two major trading partners, Europe and the United States, The textile dispute between the two countries has almost reached the point of becoming tense.
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“In the restricted post-quota era, enterprises face greater risks than in the quota era.” This was a common feeling shared by many textile and garment enterprises at that time. At the same time, the complex and ever-changing export situation has also made companies realize that no matter what era they are in, strengthening their core competitiveness and improving their risk prevention capabilities are the foundation of their business.
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The four-year tug-of-war in textile trade between China and the United States is about to end. But for the belated quota-free era of 2009, the country is still quiet, but American textile and apparel manufacturers have formed a lobby group, hoping that the government will monitor China’s textile imports in 2009. In fact, this behavior is quite similar to hiding one’s ears and stealing the bell. The U.S. economy has been severely weakened since 2008. Faced with the dual pressures of rising oil prices and plummeting housing prices, consumers have tightened their wallets, directly affecting the demand for textiles and clothing.
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             From the perspective of the global regional market structure, China’s domestic market demand continues to grow, traditional export markets such as Europe and the United States are gradually shrinking, and emerging markets such as South America and Russia are growing rapidly. In addition, export-oriented textile and garment enterprises have suffered heavy losses since 2008 and are committed to changing the mode of economic growth and adjusting the product structure of enterprises. This phenomenon of collective upgrading of textile and clothing enterprises shows that the era of industrial manufacturing of “high quantity, low price” will become a thing of the past, and relying on technological innovation to increase the added value of products is becoming a new industry trend.
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It can be seen that, after experiencing many hurdles and tests, Chinese textile and garment enterprises are gradually becoming mature. There is also a bit more rational scrutiny of the quota-free era, which “comes only after a long wait”. After all, with the deepening of global economic integration, as long as enterprises have real international competitiveness and resource integration capabilities, they can find their own ideal position on the international stage and will not lose their way just because of the halo of “free trade” .