The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has issued a report designed to demonstrate
that China will dominate textile and apparel trade in a quota-free world. The analysis focuses on
25 textile and apparel product categories released from quotas 28 months ago where Chinese imports
have grown from 9 percent of the US market to 65 percent. At the same time, according to the
analysis, all major suppliers except India have shown major declines. India’s market share remained
at a static 3 percent.
NCTO claims that China cut its prices for the decontrolled products by 48 percent and this
correlates with their increases in market share in the past 28 months. The textile lobbying group
sees the analysis as an important tool to predict Chinas behavior when the remaining quotas are
removed next January 1.
June 2004
