Editorial: Smaller Textile and Clothing Suppliers Under Threat as EU Quotas on Imports from China Come to an End

4 pages, published in Issue 129, May-June 2007   Report price: Euro 275.00; US$ 365.00

The European Commission has decided not to extend quotas on EU textile and clothing imports from China when current arrangements come to an end on December 31, 2007.

The Commission?s decision has ended speculation that quotas may be extended for a further year under the special textile safeguard clause1. Such an extension would have meant that EU quotas expired at the same time as those restricting imports into the USA.

In making its decision, the Commission has rejected requests by the European textile and clothing industry for a one-year extension. The industry now fears that the removal of quotas could spark off a return to the surge in EU imports from China witnessed in 2005, which led to the introduction of the quotas.

The surge in 2008 could be especially severe in view of the fact that Chinese exports will continue to be held back by quotas in the US market. Faced with such restrictions, it seems inevitable that Chinese suppliers will focus their efforts on the EU market.

The surge in 2005 was caused largely by the fact that EU imports from China were freed at the end of the previous year from long-established quotas. These had restricted Chinese supplies since the 1980s?first under the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) and more recently under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC).

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