LONDON, Aug 24: Britain’s textile sector will likely see little benefit from restrictions that are now blocking millions of Chinese-made garments from entering the European Union, retail and manufacturing bodies told AFP on Wednesday.

“It’s very, very very frustrating,” summarized Mark Neale, director of Mountain Warehouse, an outdoor clothing retailer that sources over half its products from China.

The EU was under fierce pressure to review quotas agreed with China in June because six out of 10 textile categories covered by the quotas are now full. Millions of clothing items shipped to Europe in excess of their quotas have been blocked by customs officials — to the anger of European retailers anxious to fill their shelves.

“It seems me completely futile because ... we’re not actually trying to get our T-shirts made in the UK, in Italy or Spain. We are having to go to India and Vietnam and Cambodia and other countries in Asia where there are no quota issues,” Neale said.

“I do not think a single extra T-shirt is going to be made in the European Union” because of the quotas, he added.

The EU had originally sought quotas after EU textile manufacturers warned they could not compete with a huge influx of cheaper Chinese products.

Having placed orders with Chinese factories in January and February, Neale found in June that the quotas would leave his group without the full winter range.

Smaller companies remained vulnerable while larger chains were able to locate alternative suppliers more easily, he added.

Alisdair Gray, director of the Brussels office of the British Retail Consortium, said European manufacturers — a dying breed — cannot compete with the likes of China.

“In the EU and in the UK where there is hardly any textile industry left, we cannot compete head on with these products. The only countries who can are Bangladesh, Morocco, Cambodia and Vietnam.

“We simply source from the areas where we get the best consumer service, quality and price.

“In most cases it tends to be China. However we still operate in other countries”, while India was also in favour, he added.

John Lambert, spokesman for the Confederation of British Wool Textiles, representing around 150 clothing makers in Britain, said that retailers would not be experiencing problems had they bought EU products from the start.

“It would have been good news if the companies who made the fabrics and goods, which the Chinese now produce, were still in existence.

“Unfortunately those companies have mostly gone out of business now because of the retailers are sorting so much from eastern Europe, Turkey, the far East and so on.”

Uldis Revelins, from the Coventry Clothing Centre, a trade body supporting central England manufacturers, said that retailers would simply look to other low-cost countries for their products.

“There will be a benefit spin-off for European manufacturers in general but I suspect that if we are not careful it is going to be short-term.”—AFP