MUMBAI, Aug 24: India and China can cooperate to maximise their advantages and corner a larger share of the market for textiles and apparel, officials from both countries said on Wednesday.

China’s advantages in man-made fibre and greater fabric capacity can complement India’s edge in cotton yarn and design, said a team of Chinese trade and textile industry officials.

They said there were also opportunities in research and development and technology transfers between the two countries, which are more often seen as rivals than potential partners.

After the elimination of quotas, both countries should work together. We can push our individual advantages for mutual benefit, said Chen Shuyin, vice president of China National Textile and Apparel Council, in its second India visit in eight months.

A team of Chinese textile machinery manufacturers also visited India recently and struck several deals with local firms.

Indian textiles and products enjoy a high reputation in the Chinese market, and there are several areas for cooperation between the two countries, Shuyin said.

A partnership was critical in light of attempts by European and US negotiators to curb China’s surging textile exports, officials said.

The European Union has sent a team of experts to Beijing this week to address a crisis that has left millions of Chinese sweaters, trousers and blouses piled up in EU warehouses because limits set with Beijing in June have already been breached.

Annual import limits on textiles and apparel were agreed with China in June as a way of controlling a surge in Chinese exports to Europe after a decades-old quota system expired on January 1.

But within weeks of the new quotas being agreed, they began to be exceeded as importers made huge orders ahead of the autumn-winter season.

“They have imposed restrictions, but we are not afraid of them ... we will negotiate with them,” said Song de Heng, consul general for China in India. “If Westerners boycott our products, we can find opportunity in India. China and India are the world’s most populous countries, after all.”

China had a fifth of global textiles trade before the quotas ended, which is expected to rise to as much as half. —Reuters