Textile dispute takes toll on traders

Chinese firms report falling profits while US retailers face shortages for Christmas

While the Sino-US textile agreement is virtually complete, both countries are still coming to terms with casualties of the preceding war - Chinese firms report shrinking profits and US retailers face a clothing shortage this Christmas.

The total net profit of the 61 mainland-listed textile firms dropped 13.06 per cent to 1.58 billion yuan in the first nine months of this year due to EU and US-imposed quotas, according to the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Textiles.

Total revenue from these firms grew only 3 per cent to 50.28 billion yuan during the same period.Meanwhile, traders said US retailers might not be able to source all the stock they need.

'It's a certainty that some US retailers won't have all the (textile) products they want on their shelves this Christmas,' said Douglas Sheridan, owner of BKMS Trading.

Although US garment buyers were sourcing stock from countries other than China, they were unable to match it in output scale and delivery speed, he said.

'US retailers won't get all their goods this Christmas for sure,' said Neeraj Sawhney, director of Hong Kong trading firm Topnet International.'US retailers are desperately placing orders in other countries such as India and Bangladesh, but some orders won't get to the US on time. Some US retailers are getting their goods delivered by air,' he said. 'The US government is more willing to arrive at a deal now, because of pressure from US retailers who fear a shortage this Christmas.'