The Market Potentials of Chinese Textiles and Opportunities and Challenges Facing the Chinese Cotton Industry—An Econometric Analysis

摘要

Introduction Over the past few decades,the Chinese textiles industry has expanded at a rapid but stable pace.Total mill consumption of fibers in 2005 reached 25 million tons,which was 454% and 225% more than in 1980 and 1990,respectively.The growth has accelerated after China's WTO admission after 2001.During the period from 2000 to 2005,the mill consumption of cotton and man-made fibers was doubled,which brought about a net increase of 12 million tons of mill consumption.The export growth was extremely eye-catching.As measured by raw fiber equivalent,China only exported 370,000 tons of cotton textiles and 350,000 tons of man-made fiber textiles in 1980,of which mainly were fabrics.Clothing accounted for less than 20%.In 2005,however,China's exports of cotton textiles and clothing amounted at 7.27 million tons,which was 19.6 times more than in 1980.The exports of man-made fiber textiles and clothing in 2005 increased by 16.7 times compared with 1980 to reach 5.84 million tons.The share of clothing exports accounted for more than 50% of the total exports.Compared with 2000,in 2005,the exports of total textiles and clothing observed an increase of 134%,with a net increase of 7.50 million tons,while domestic consumption of fibers increased of 5.6 million tons.