China textile chamber fears more US, EU trade penalties
Afp, Beijing
A powerful Chinese textile organisation has warned there may be more US and European anti-dumping measures this year as prices on exports from the Asian giant have fallen steeply, state media said Friday. The China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles cited plunging prices on a number of key products as a reason why western trading partners may soon consider new measures, the Xinhua news agency said. In the first 11 months of last year, average unit prices for exported knitgoods plunged 43.7 percent from a year earlier, while cotton-made knitgoods were down 43.4 percent and chemical-fiber knitgoods dropped 36.3 percent. Xinhua quoted unnamed industry sources as saying the slipping unit price was due to heated competition among Chinese companies for limited textile quotas to the United States and the European Union. "In order to get the quotas, many have to lower their export prices, which may further lead to anti-dumping actions by the two markets," the chamber said, according to Xinhua. To avoid the potential anti-dumping measures, the organisation advised Chinese textile enterprises to export more "value-added" products.
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