By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-07-11 15:55

China's exports of textiles, garments, and long chemical fibers surged 17.44 percent year-on-year to US$73.53 billion in the first six months of this year, adding to the country's trade surplus, according to Chinese Customs statistics.

From January to June, exports of textiles including yarns and fabrics rose 9.8 percent to US$25.22 billion while exports of garments rose 21.7 percent to US$48.31 billion.

In June, China's exports of textiles and garments surged 24.5 percent from a year earlier to US$16.2 billion, including US$4.9 billion worth of textiles and US$11.61 billion worth of garments.

The textile industry is a major contributor to China's big trade surplus. The industry saw a US$50 billion trade surplus between January and May, while the country's trade surplus totaled US$112.53 billion in the first half of this year.

The huge surplus has aggravated problems such as trade conflicts with other countries, many of which pressure China to revalue the renminbi. It has also created excessive liquidity at home, said the Ministry of Finance in a statement, announcing the government's decisions on tariff rebate adjustment.

China decided in recent months to do away with tax rebates for over 2,800 export items, describing them as triggering trade frictions, in a further move to reduce the mounting trade surplus and adjust the export mix.

Rebates for textiles and garments were lowered to 11 percent from 13 percent from July 1.

To reduce losses due to the tax rebate cut, textiles and garments enterprises rushed exports out the doors, bringing the industry's export value to US$16.2 billion in June, an increase of 24.5 percent.

"China's textile industry will maintain a growing momentum in the second half of this year, but it will taper off gradually," said Fan Min, president of Webtextiles.com, "Tax rebate cut and rising labor and material costs will propel the industry's export mix adjustment."

Fan expected exports of textiles to grow by 10 to 12 percent in the second half of this year, and 10 to 15 percent over the whole year.

The export mix will be optimized, and quality and added value of exports will be improved in the second half of this year, he said, adding that "China's textile industry should not only focus on exports in quantity but also in structure optimization and quality."