China Textile Exports Record High in 1st Quarter

China’s textile exports in the first quarter reached a record 2.2 billion dlrs, an increase of 49 pct on the year-earlier period, the People’s Daily said.

Its overseas edition gave no country breakdown. The U.S. Is one of China’s largest markets for textiles.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige told a press conference that Chinese textile and apparel exports to the U.S. In 1986 rose 65 pct in value from the 1985 level, a rate of growth that “is not sustainable nor equitable to our other major foreign suppliers.” China is now the United States’ largest textile supplier, he said.

Baldrige declined to say what would be an acceptable growth rate for Chinese textile exports. Negotiations on the next China-U.S. Textile agreement are due to begin in May, he said.

“There clearly has to be a limit,” he said. “Our economy can only absorb so much textiles. It is in both of our interests to reach a satisfactory conclusion. Without an agreement, we would have a chaotic situation.”