China wants early resolution on textiles
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-24 21:15

SHANGHAI, China - China is hoping talks with European Union negotiators this week will help resolve a trade dispute that has left Chinese textiles piling up at European ports and threatens deliveries of fall and winter clothing, media reports said Wednesday.

Shiploads of Chinese textile products have been stopped by EU Customs because they exceed limits recently imposed to help stem a surge in imports that followed the end of a worldwide quota system at the beginning of the year.

EU negotiators were traveling to Beijing on Wednesday for talks on the trade dispute, which threatens deliveries to European stores for later in the year.

"A major issue is to find a solution for Chinese textile products detained at EU ports," China Daily on Wednesday quoted Lu Jianhua, director of foreign trade at the Commerce Ministry, as saying.

The report said the talks would begin Thursday. The Commerce Ministry and the EU mission in Beijing wouldn't give any details.

The two sides must agree first on the amount of textiles and garments already blocked by EU Customs, Lu said. Imports of shirts, bras and flax yarn have now joined sweaters, men's trousers and blouses in exceeding EU limits on volume increases for 2005 that China agreed to in June.

Among the options for negotiators is agreeing to accelerate part of the 2006 allowance to this year.

But China Business News, cited officials saying that Beijing was unlikely to agree to use up next-year's allowance early, saying that would be like "eating dinner at breakfast-time."

The report said Beijing was expecting European concessions on the issue.

European retailers have been urging the EU to relax the import limits, complaining they cannot stock shelves with goods they ordered from China without obtaining a special import license.

Earlier this month, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson won backing from EU states to increase the 2005 allowances for sweaters as the number of stranded shipments increased.

However, he blamed greedy retailers for rushing to place huge last-minute orders of Chinese clothing to get goods into Europe ahead of a July 12 cut-off date.

EU negotiators won't receive new orders allowing them to negotiate new limits for the other categories until EU countries meet again on Thursday.

The European Commission has placed 10 categories of Chinese textile products, including T-shirts, sweaters and bed linens, on a watchlist.

It has also started an investigation into claims that Beijing and India are dumping shoes on European markets, and has threatened punitive customs duties on the imports to raise shoe prices.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce reported that China's textile and garment exports surged in June and July, bringing the total for the first seven months of this year to $61.5 billion. It said exports rose 28 percent in June and 23 percent in July from the same months in 2004.