The International Business Daily based its forecast on customs figures from the year so far, noting that China’s exports of textile products in October exceeded $10 billion despite increased export taxes, the yuan appreciation and transportation bottlenecks.
"The stable external demand and production growth maintained a sustainable increase of China’s exports of textile garment products. By inference, China’s annual exports of textile garments this year are expected to be more than $115 billion," the newspaper said.
Exports of textile garment products in the first 10 months of 2005 had hit $95.1 billion, matching the total exports for all of 2004, it said.
China’s textile exports have been the focus of trade disputes with the United States and European Union this year.
US and Chinese officials reached a three year agreement to rein in billions of dollars in China’s clothing and textile shipments to the United States in November.
China revalued the yuan by 2.1 percent on July 21 and has allowed it to appreciate by a further 0.4 percent since then.
A new Sino-US textile pact is expected to boost the market share of Chinese textile products in the United States to 19.8 percent by 2008 from 6.7 percent in 2004, China’s Commerce Ministry said.
In a statement on its website, an unnamed ministry official said China’s market share in the US market will reach 15 percent in 2006, 17.1 percent in 2007 and 19.8 percent in 2008 under growth rates agreed to in the Sino-US textile pact.
Under the deal signed last month, China and the United States agreed to limit exports of Chinese textile products under 21 categories to growth rates of 10-17 percent from 20062008.
Since the scrapping of a global textile quota on China at the beginning of this year, China’s textile exports to the United States and the EU have surged, triggering trade frictions.
China and the EU reached a deal in June, agreeing to export growth rates of 8-12.5 percent for Chinese textile products until 2007.
The ministry official also said the market share of Chinese cotton knit shirts will grow to 7.7 percent by 2008 from 0.9 percent in 2004.
Chinese cotton trousers will also increase their market share to 17 percent by 2008 from 1.5 percent in 2004, the official said.
