Only US$8b of US$100b in exports affected, official says
Only a small proportion of the mainland's textile exports has been affected by the trade rows with the European Union and the United States, an assistant minister of commerce said yesterday.
'The restrictive measures imposed by the US have involved about US$4 billion worth of products, while quotas set by the EU have also dealt with about another US$4 billion. But China's total exports of textile products reached US$100 billion last year,' Fu Ziying told a press conference for next month's China-Asean Expo, to be held in Nanning , Guangxi .
'We have from time to time seen trade friction or irritants between us and these two trading partners but, in terms of value, they account for a very small proportion.'
Mr Fu also played down the impact of the trade row on textile exporters, saying the sector as a whole was still very profitable.
Liu Yingkui , deputy director of Trade Point Beijing, a United Nations-sponsored trade information website, said last week that the maximum profit margin for China's textile product manufacturers was less than 10 per cent, with many achieving only 5 per cent. Mr Fu also acknowledged that farmers in southern provinces could be affected by a free-trade agreement between China and member countries of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Under the agreement, China and Asean will phase out tariffs on 600 agricultural products by the end of next year.
