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| Issue date:18/05/2009 |
| ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel - May 2009 Issue |
| Source:Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel |
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| Chinese textile trade researcher, Xie Qiuqi, observes that more technical barriers to trade were announced last year and their impacts are expected to be more visible this year |
More technical trade barriers have shown up in the international scene these couple of years. About 1,470 notifications relating to technical barriers to trade were announced last year, up 21.59% from the previous year. Of which, 39 reports affected textile and leather products, and another 14 were related to the garment sector, up 30% and 7.69% respectively from the previous year.
Chinese enterprises were advised to pay more attention to the growing concerns of eco-friendly or green textiles among developed countries and the related information. Due to the mounting trade regulations and global economic downturn, they are also advised to diversify markets and consider both overseas and domestic markets.
Trade environment in 2008
Following the outbreak of the global financial crisis, the international community have put forward a series of economic packages to save their home countries from the risk of deep economic recession. On the other hand, trade regulations have also been introduced.
Twenty-six out of the 53 reports related to textiles and garment were released by Rumania, making up 49.06% of the world's total last year.
Rumania is itself a leading textile and apparel exporting country in East Europe, and the related trade between China is small. Its trade regulation thus does not affect China much.
Trade regulations established by such trade partners as USA, Germany, the Netherlands and Thailand last year have more significance to Chinese exports.
The US
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released the Circular G/TBT/N/USA/388 concerning rules and regulations of Textile Fibre Products Identification Act through the WTO Secretariat in April 2008. It was the only circular released by the US authorities last year, affecting the export of China's polyester staple fiber and other products to the US.
USITC regulates safety performance of adult clothing more strictly last year |
Polyester staple fiber is one of the major textile exports in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Ningbo alone exported such fibers worth US$85.34 million in 2007.
Additionally, the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) announced that adult clothing products imported into the country must also meet the requirements for safety performance initially imposed on garment of baby and kids under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
Germany and the Netherlands
Last year, Germany released the act concerning the prohibition of the importation, processing and marketing of products derived from seals (G/TBT/N/DEU/5), whereas the Netherlands notified the act banning fur animal farming (G/TBT/N/NLD/80) and amendments of the Flora and Fauna Act in connection with the prohibition of trade in Cape fur seal products (G/TBT/N/NLD/83).
The use of fur in fashion and particularly high fashion are impacted by these new regulations. The legislative bills in Germany and the Netherlands have no effect on fur products already legally exported to other member counties of the European Union.
Asia-Pacific region
Two circulars from Thailand concerning the modification of the G/TBT/N/THA/174 and G/TBT/N/THA/177 were notified last year.
With these two circulars, the Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) aimed to modify the use of direct dyes and active dyes under the standard of TIS 739-2549(2006).
ASEAN countries seeking tighter economic ties with Japan (Photo: www.vietnam-un.org) |
It is expected that Thailand's textile industry is benefited substantially under the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA) concluded in late 2007. As a consequence, Thailand's trade position among the ASEAN countries changed radically last year.
Japan used to import textiles heavily from China. About 90% of Japan's textile imports were shipped from China, but now about 20%-35% of fabric and fiber imports shipped to Japan come from the ASEAN countries. The growth of Thailand's textile export value increased rapidly partly due to the JTEPA. Foreign-invested textile manufacturing units in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia can also favor textile exports of Thailand.
Moreover, under the agreement between Japan and Thailand, the Japanese side agreed to provide assistance to the Thai industry with Japanese experts on bleaching and dyeing techniques. The aim was to help Thai players manufacture uniquely dyed fabrics that are demanded by the Japanese market.
With the help of Japanese expertise, Thailand was able to develop new markets (e.g. Japan) although its shares in the traditional markets such as the US and Europe was diminishing, as well as to upgrade the Thai dyeing industry by purchasing advanced machinery.
Rumania
Out of 26 circulars released by Rumania in 2008, seven were involved with technical measurements of fibers and five related to leather products (including how to use certain animal skins), which also form part of the related national standards of the country.
As a leading textile and apparel exporting country in East Europe, Rumania urgently needs to standardize the use of raw fiber materials (including animal skins) for the manufacture of textile and leather products.
Rumania is the third largest clothing exporter to the EU, after China and Turkey. Currently, low-cost garment products are manufactured in China, India, Bangladesh and etc, whereas the middle-range ready-made apparel are made in Europe, especially in southeast Europe including Romania. Nonetheless, approximately 85% of the Romanian textile manufacturers engage with garment processing operations, and the country has not actively developed its own fiber and fabric production.
China
In 2008, China released the circulars with regard to three national standards, on the safety and hygiene performance of shoes, moisture regain of textile materials, and instructions for use of textiles and apparel as consumer goods.
Although China is a major textile and apparel exporter in the world, the country has few circulars of technical barriers to trade in the sector. The number of textile and garment circulars accounted for 2.05% of the total circulars released by China last year.
Health concerns heighten in Europe
For the global textile industry, the PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonates) Directive is an important regulation in recent years. (Remark: The EU authorities explained that the risks posed to health and environment by PFOS have been assessed in accordance with the principles of European Council Regulation, and a need to reduce the risks to health and the environment was identified.)
First released by year-end 2006, the PFOS Directive was implemented among the EU members since June 2008.
This European directive limits the use of PFOS in textiles and related coating materials, and the limitation is more stringent than the previous directive of 2005/0244 (COD).
The EU restricts the use of PFOS, a man-made chemical compound found hazardous to animals and humans |
PFOS is used in the commercial and industrial fields in China, including a number of China's highly competitive export products of textiles, leather and carpet. Chinese textile finishing enterprises are advised to carefully select their suppliers and make plans to better cope with the new directive of PFOS. Enterprises can also take a further step to get their PFOS-free products tested and labeled as a way of value addition.
Environmental protection has become a discussion topic around the world. Countries aiming to gain more shares in the international market are rapidly adopting stringent standards in the area of eco-friendliness for industrial goods.
In order to enter into the high-end fabric market, Chinese enterprises are advised to intensify their efforts of research and new product development, especially those green products that give maximum performance but minimal environmental footprint.
As the external environment turns unfavorable, many Chinese enterprises have changed their strategy and aimed at domestic sales. Due to the global financial crisis and reduced purchasing power of the developed regions, overseas enterprises also eye on the Chinese market with its population of over one billion.
On the other hand, Asian countries, as well as free-trade areas and nations, have issued their national technical standards. The emergence of regions with a preferential tax rate will impact the flow of goods globally. Therefore, China should pay attention to international trade trends, as well as technical regulations established by countries in Asia, no matter big or small countries they are. China should also participate more actively in the establishment of technical standards.
The article was contributed by Xie Qiuqi (謝秋琪), a research fellow at the Hubei WTO/TBT Notification and Consultancy Center (湖北WTO/TBT通報諮詢中心) and the Institute of Standards of Hubei Province (湖北省標準化研究院).
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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| Copyright © Adsale Publishing Limited. Any party needs to reprint any part of the content should get the written approval from Adsale Publishing Ltd and quote the source "ATA Journal for Asia on Textile & Apparel", Adsale Textile English Website - www.AdsaleATA.com. We reserve the right to take legal action against any party who reprints any part of this article without acknowledgement. For enquiry, please contact Editorial Department. |
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