U.S. textile manufacturers call for China safeguards

U.S. textile manufacturers call for China safeguards    A coalition of four U.S. textile and apparel organizations and one labor union, alarmed by figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce showing that China accounted for 35 percent of the American apparel import market in January, have called for the United States to self-initiate safeguards against China.
   In the first month since worldwide quotas for textiles and apparel ended Jan. 1 for members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the global apparel market increased 8.4 percent. China accounted for 47 percent of that increase, up $975 million from a year ago.
   After the release of January's figures, the Chinese government said that an 'excess of exports' had occurred and more restraint could be expected on the part of Chinese companies.
   The groups in the U.S. coalition, which comprise the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC), the National Textile Association (NTA), and the National Cotton Council of America, as well as the labor union Unite Here!, expressed frustration that an injunction issued by the U.S. Court of International Trade against the Bush administration's limits on some Chinese textile and apparel remains in effect.
   'This isn't like the Y2K crisis, where everyone was afraid of a computer meltdown that never happened,' said Cass Johnson, president of NCTO. China's increasing dominance of U.S. markets 'is happening, and the consequences are frightening.'
   Importers of apparel, from both China and sources outside of China, want the Bush administration to defer any action until more data becomes available, noting that much of the surge shown in January could be explained by an unusually high volume of shipments in December that carried over into 2005.
   According to the figures for January, apparel imports from Hong Kong were down 34.9 percent. Those from South Korea were down 19 percent. Yet imports from Vietnam, which remains under quota because it is not a member of the WTO, rose by 28 percent.
   In the Western Hemisphere, apparel imports increased 22 percent overall, led by Honduras (up 27.9 percent) and El Salvador (20.7 percent). Since manufacturers in that region buy substantial amounts of American yarn, the overall picture isn't entirely bleak for some U.S. textile 'domestics.'