Door Closes on More Imports From China
The ability to import apparel from China just got harder.
The quotas on bringing in synthetic pants and men’s and boys’ woven tops are expected to be filled by the end of July, which means there will be no new imports of these categories until 2006.
That now brings to six the number of clothing categories embargoed from China, which has been quickly becoming the world’s clothing maker ever since the elimination of apparel and textile quotas in January 2005.
In early July, four other Chinese-made clothing categories were embargoed until the end of the year: cotton knit tops, synthetic knit tops, cotton pants and underwear.
By mid- to late October, imports of several more categories are expected to close: women’s and girls’ woven tops, sweaters, skirts, nightwear, and swimwear. Sweaters, whose import numbers have been rising dramatically since mid-May, could be embargoed as early as the end of August if the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, the federal agency also known as CITA, accepts the safeguard petition filed for the category. It has until Aug. 3 to make that decision.
These projections for embargoes were made by customs attorneys and the American Apparel & Footwear Association, the Washington, D.C., trade group whose members, including Liz Claiborne Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., are big apparel importers. The projections are based on average daily fill rates between July 6 and July 22. As the embargo date approaches, the fill rates often increase as importers start air freighting their goods to get them through U.S. Customs as quickly as possible.
The off–and–on again quota system has been perplexing for many apparel and textile importers. When China joined the World Trade Organization in late 2001, it agreed that if textile and apparel imports disrupted domestic industries, it would agree to temporary safeguard measures restricting imports. Safeguard measures can be imposed until the end of 2008.
So far this year, U.S. manufacturers and trade groups have filed safeguard petitions for 17 apparel and textile categories.
CITA is still reviewing petitions to restrict imports on bras, dressing gowns, men’s and boys’ wool pants, socks, synthetic filament fabric, and curtains and drapes. —Deborah Belgum
