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Financial Times (London, England)
August 4, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 1
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 408 words
HEADLINE: EU agrees to admit Chinese knitwear stranded by quotas
BYLINE: By BOSCHEN, RAPHAEL MINDER, ELIZABETH RIGBY and MATTHIAS RUCH
DATELINE: DUSSELDORF, LONDON and BRUSSELS
BODY:
The European Union has agreed to come to the rescue of European retailers - struggling because some Chinese clothing shipments have been stranded in transit - by allowing more imports of Chinese pullovers, even though Beijing has exhausted its quota for 2005.
The agreement ends an internal EU tussle between the European Commission and member states, after a handful of member states last week blocked a Commission demand to show more flexibility towards imports from China.
France and Italy were among those arguing for a very strict application of the agreed ceilings for imports of 10 categories of textiles from now until 2008. However, the Commission said it had not yet received an official response from Beijing to its proposed solution.
A spokeswoman for Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, said: "It's good that member states have now agreed on this, but if the Chinese don't agree it will be of little use."
The Commission also stressed that the short-term solution to the problem of goods in transit should not be seen as a revision of the bilateral agreement, since it would involve using this year as much as 10 per cent of the pullover import quota earmarked for 2006.
Under the agreement struck with Beijing, China was allowed to export 69m pullovers from June 11 to the end of 2005, followed by 200m units in 2006.
Mr Mandelson is keen not to renew tensions with Beijing over clothing after receiving plaudits for reaching a truce in this sensitive dossier two months ago. The US also announced this week that it would seek a broad agreement with China to limit future clothing exports.
However, one EU diplomat warned yesterday that the handling of Chinese pullovers was not the prelude to a more relaxed EU stance towards Chinese exports. China is also understood to be getting close to the 2005 ceiling for men's trousers. "We don't want to punish our own retailers, but we also won't let China get away with inadequate export and licensing controls."
Some German retailers yesterday expressed concerns that the proposed solution would not be sufficient to cover an additional 22m pullovers awaiting clearance to be sold in the EU. Gelco, a German company that produces pullovers in China, is planning legal action if it is denied access to goods it has ordered from China.
However, Metro, the world's third largest retailer, said yesterday that "legal action is not an option". Additional reporting by Mark Boschen in Brussels
LOAD-DATE: August 3, 2005
August 4, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 1
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 408 words
HEADLINE: EU agrees to admit Chinese knitwear stranded by quotas
BYLINE: By BOSCHEN, RAPHAEL MINDER, ELIZABETH RIGBY and MATTHIAS RUCH
DATELINE: DUSSELDORF, LONDON and BRUSSELS
BODY:
The European Union has agreed to come to the rescue of European retailers - struggling because some Chinese clothing shipments have been stranded in transit - by allowing more imports of Chinese pullovers, even though Beijing has exhausted its quota for 2005.
The agreement ends an internal EU tussle between the European Commission and member states, after a handful of member states last week blocked a Commission demand to show more flexibility towards imports from China.
France and Italy were among those arguing for a very strict application of the agreed ceilings for imports of 10 categories of textiles from now until 2008. However, the Commission said it had not yet received an official response from Beijing to its proposed solution.
A spokeswoman for Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, said: "It's good that member states have now agreed on this, but if the Chinese don't agree it will be of little use."
The Commission also stressed that the short-term solution to the problem of goods in transit should not be seen as a revision of the bilateral agreement, since it would involve using this year as much as 10 per cent of the pullover import quota earmarked for 2006.
Under the agreement struck with Beijing, China was allowed to export 69m pullovers from June 11 to the end of 2005, followed by 200m units in 2006.
Mr Mandelson is keen not to renew tensions with Beijing over clothing after receiving plaudits for reaching a truce in this sensitive dossier two months ago. The US also announced this week that it would seek a broad agreement with China to limit future clothing exports.
However, one EU diplomat warned yesterday that the handling of Chinese pullovers was not the prelude to a more relaxed EU stance towards Chinese exports. China is also understood to be getting close to the 2005 ceiling for men's trousers. "We don't want to punish our own retailers, but we also won't let China get away with inadequate export and licensing controls."
Some German retailers yesterday expressed concerns that the proposed solution would not be sufficient to cover an additional 22m pullovers awaiting clearance to be sold in the EU. Gelco, a German company that produces pullovers in China, is planning legal action if it is denied access to goods it has ordered from China.
However, Metro, the world's third largest retailer, said yesterday that "legal action is not an option". Additional reporting by Mark Boschen in Brussels
LOAD-DATE: August 3, 2005
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