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  September 8, 2005

 

Global Alliance Critical of EU-China Textile Deal

   

The Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade (GAFTT) criticized the increased market access given to China in the renegotiated European Union (EU)-China textile deal announced on Monday.

 

The EU-China deal is expected to allow all textile and clothing goods from China trapped in embargo to be released immediately into the EU market.  The first 50 percent released will not count against quota limits of any kind.  The remaining 50 percent will count against quotas imposed on China in 2006.  This access, amounting to tens of millions of garments, represents potential business taken from GAFTT member countries and given to China, a country that manipulates world textile prices in order to gain an unfair market advantage.     

 

“GAFTT opposes any deal allowing Chinese products into the European Union in excess of quota limits where the quota is not entirely repaid.  In this case, 50 percent of what is released into the EU market will not be repaid.  This is business taken from legitimate manufacturers – both from inside the European Union and outside it – and it is being given to a country that refuses to play by the rules,” said Ziya Sukun, Executive Director of ITKIB Association USA and a GAFTT founding member.

 

GAFTT is concerned deeply about the lack of sensitivity that the EU is showing toward textile manufacturers in the developing world.  The initial EU-China textile deal did not limit imports in 2008 and only covered a limited number of categories in 2006 and 2007. 

 

Sukun noted that GAFTT member countries – Turkey, Bangladesh, Tunisia and as well as a number of EU member states, such as France and Portugal – are major producers of pullovers, a category where China will be allowed to sharply increase its exports into the EU this year because of the renegotiated deal.

 

The EU has had the right to impose safeguards on China since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2002.  GAFTT believes that when EU imports of Chinese textile and clothing products surged dramatically in 2005 due to unfair Chinese trade practices, those importing from China should not have been surprised that the EU would quickly impose safeguards on China. 

 

“The importers caught by the embargoes knowingly took a calculated business risk and got burned.  Now they are asking the EU to bail them out.  The EU-China textile deal unfairly penalizes textile and clothing producers from the rest of the world who play by the rules,” added Cass Johnson, President of the National Council of Textile Organizations.

 

“China contributed greatly to the EU embargo crisis by eliminating its export licensing requirements earlier this year even though they knew other countries were likely to impose safeguards on surging textile and clothing imports.  Granting China additional access to the EU market over an embargo crisis simply rewards China for its own irresponsibility,” said Auggie Tantillo, Executive Director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition.

 

GAFTT also believes that claims by certain segments of the EU retailing community about potential shortages of textile and clothing products on European retail shelves are unfounded.  Any EU retailer claiming that a shortage of textile or clothing products might occur because they could not import from China is fostering a crisis of their own creation.  GAFTT points out that hundreds of manufacturers in dozens of countries are prepared to supply textile and clothing products to the EU as they did prior to 2005.  There were no shortages of these products in 2004, as there should be no shortages in 2005 and 2006.  The simple solution to filling European retailing shelves is to source from multiple countries rather than sourcing solely from China. 

 

Finally, GAFTT reiterated its focus on persuading the WTO to prevent China and a handful of other countries from monopolizing global trade in textiles and clothing by introducing new permanent safeguards for textile and apparel products into the current round of worldwide trade talks scheduled to conclude in Hong Kong at the end of this year. “China’s use of unfair trade practices will not cease at the end of 2008.  It is imperative that the WTO prevent millions of textile and apparel job losses by implementing a permanent global safeguard for textiles and clothing in the Doha Round,” concluded Sukun.

 

GAFTT represents 97 trade groups from 55 countries that exported over $170 billion in textile and apparel products in 2003.

 

 

 

CONTACT:

 

Lloyd Wood, Director of Media Relations

American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC)

+1 (202) 452-0866 or lwood@amtacdc.org

 

Ziya Sukun, Executive Director

ITKIB Association USA

+1 (212) 398-6241 or itkibusa@aol.com

 

Cass Johnson, President

National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)

+1 (202) 822-8205 or cjohnson@ncto.org

 

Argentina - Federacion Argentina de Industrias Textiles (FADIT-FITA)

Austria - Association of the Austrian Clothing Industry

Austria - Fachverband der Textilindustrie Osterreichs (Die Textilindustrie)

Austria - Eurocoton

Austria - Vereinigung Textilindustrie

Austria - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Bangladesh - Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA)

Bangladesh - Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BKMEA)

Bangladesh - The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry

Bangladesh - Bangladesh Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers and Exporters Assoc.

Belgium - Federation Belge de L?Industrie Textile (FEBELTEX)

Belgium - Eurocoton

Belgium - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Belgium - International Association of Users of Artificial and Synthetic Filament Yarns

                 and of Natural Silk (AIUFFAS)

Bolivia - Asociacion Nacional de Textileros de Bolivia

Bolivia - Federacion Textil Andina

Botswana - Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA)

Bulgaria - Association of Apparel and Textile Exporters in Bulgaria

Bulgaria - Bulgarian Association of Textile and Clothing

Bulgaria - Bulgarian Industrial Chamber

Bulgaria - Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Chile - Instituto Textil de Chile ? Asociacion Gremial

Colombia - Asociacion Colombiana de Productores Textiles (ASCOLTEX)

Colombia - Federacion Textil Andina

Costa Rica - Costa Rica Textile Chamber

Costa Rica - Textile Quota Council

Czech Republic - Association of Textile-Clothing-Leather Industries

Dominican Republic - Dominican Free Zones Association (ADZONA)

Denmark - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Ecuador - Asociacion Textil del Ecuador (AITE)

Ecuador - Federacion Textil Andina

El Salavador - Union de Industrias Textiles

France - Eurocoton

France - Federation Francaise des Industries Lainiere et Cotonniere (FFILC)

France - Union Francaise des Industries de l?Habillement (UFIH)

France - Union des Industries Textiles (UIT)

France - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

France - International Association of Users of Artificial and Synthetic Filament Yarns         

               and of Natural Silk (AIUFFAS)

Germany - Eurocoton

Germany - Industrievereinigung Garne ? Gewebe Technische Textilen

Germany - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Ghana - Gold Coast of Ghana

Greece - Association des Industries Cotonnieres de Grece

Greece - Hellenic Fashion Industry Association

Greece - Eurocoton

Greece - Panhellenic Union of Cotton Ginners and Exporters

Honduras - Honduran Apparel Manufacturers Association

Indonesia - Himpunan Pengusaha Kecil & Koperasi - Tekstil and Produk Tekstil

                    (HPKK-TPT)

Indonesia - Asosiasi Industri Rakyat (AIR)

Indonesia - API DKI JAYA ? Indonesian Textile Association of Greater Jakarta

Israel - The Manufactures? Association of Israel, Fashion & Textile Industries Assoc.

Italy - Associazione Italiana Industrie della Filliera Tessile Abbigliamento (AIIFTA)

Italy - Associazione Tessile Italiana (ATI)

Italy - Eurocoton

Italy - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Italy - International Association of Users of Artificial and Synthetic Filament Yarns

           and of Natural Silk (AIUFFAS)

Ivory Coast - Agency for the Promotion of Exports (APEX-CI)

Jordan - Jordan Garments, Accessories & Textile Exporters Association (JGATE)

Kenya - Kenya Apparel Manufacturers Exporters Association

Kenya - Kenya Association of Manufacturers ? Textile Sector (KAM)

Latvia - Association of Textile and Clothing Industry

Lesotho - Lesotho Textile Exporters Association

Lithuania - Lithuanian Apparel and Textile Industry Association

Madagascar - Madagascar Export Promotion Association (GEFP)

Mauritius - Mauritius Export Processing Zone Association (MEPZA)

Mauritius - Mauritius-US Business Association  (MUSBA)

Mexico - Camera Nacional de la Industria Textil (CANAINTEX)

Mexico - C?ra Nacional de la Industria del Vestido (CNIV)

Mexico - C?ra Mexicana de la Industria Textil Central

Mexico - C?ra Textil de Occidente

Namibia - Namibian Investment Authority

Nepal - Garment Association of Nepal (GAN)

Netherlands - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Norway - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Paraguay - C?ra Textil Paraguaya

Peru - Comite de Confecciones de la Sociedad Nacional de Industrias del  Per?

Peru - Comite Textil de la Sociedad Nacional de Industries del Peru

Peru - Federacion Textil Andina

Philippines - Confederation of Garments Exporters of the Philippines

Poland - The Gdynia Cotton Association

Poland - Polish Textile and Clothing Chamber

Poland - Polish Chamber of Textile Industry

Poland - Union of Employers of Textile Industry

Portugal - Federation of Portuguese Textile and Clothing Industry (FITVEP)

Portugal - Textile and Apparel Association of Portugal (ATP)

Senegal - Agency for the Promotion of Investments and Exports (APIX)

Slovenia - Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia, Textiles, Clothing and

                    Leather Processing Association

South Africa - Clothing Trade Council of South Africa (CloTrade)

South Africa - Export Council for the Clothing Industry in South Africa

South Africa - South African Textile Industry Export Council (SATIEC)

South Africa - Textile Federation of South Africa (TEXFED)

Spain - Agrupacion Espanola de Desmotadores de Algodon (AEDA)

Spain - Asociacion Industrial de Proceso Algodonero (AITPA)

Spain - Consejo Intertextil Espanol

Spain - Eurocoton

Spain - International Association of Users of Artificial and Synthetic Filament Yarns

             and of Natural Silk (AIUFFAS)

Sri Lanka - Joint Apparel Association Forum

Sri Lanka - National Apparel Exporters Association

Swaziland - Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority (SIPA)

Swaziland - Swaziland Textile Exporters Association (STEA)

Switzerland - Eurocoton

Switzerland - Swiss Spinning Committee

Switzerland - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)

Switzerland - International Association of Users of Artificial and Synthetic Filament

                       Yarns and of Natural Silk (AIUFFAS)

Tanzania - Tanzania Investment Center (TIC)

Tunisia - Federation Nationale de Textile (FENATEX)

Turkey - Turkish Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association (ITKIB Textiles)

Turkey - Turkish Ready Wear and Garments Exporters Association (ITKIB Apparel)

Turkey - Turkish Clothing Manufacturers Association (TGSD)

Turkey - Turkish Textile Employers Association (TUTSIS)

Turkey - Eurocoton

Turkey - Joint Committee of the Textile Finishing Industry in the E.U. (CRIET)