KARACHI, June 21: Leader of the eight-member Chinese trade delegation and Chairman, China Chamber of Commerce for Imports and Exports of Textiles (CCCT), Wang Shenyang, said on Tuesday that Pakistan and China should cooperate with each other for the development of textile trade.
Speaking at a luncheon meeting organized by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, he said the CCCT, having 6,300 members with a business volume of $70 billion per annum, is the world’s largest trade organization.
Mr Shenyang said that after becoming WTO member, China’s import of yarn and fabrics from Pakistan increased manifold, as there was a growing demand in China for these products. He stressed upon the need for exchanging views and information with regard to cost and other problems of the textile industry between the two countries.
Out of total trade volume of around $1.11 billion, textiles alone stood at $770 million, of which $450 million of textiles and apparel were exported from Pakistan and $320 million worth of textiles were imported by Pakistan from China, thus showing a 12 per cent growth over a year. However, he said from January to May 2005, textiles witnessed a 24 per cent growth between the two countries.
The objective of the visit of his trade team, he said, was to study textile and apparel markets of Pakistan and look into ways and means for increasing their exports to China.
“The spinning industry in China is of very large scale where over 800 million spindles are installed and it could be compared with Japan at places and with Italy and the UK in other places.”
However, he said a unit with six million spindles engaged 150,000 workers, and on an average the salary comes to around Rs7,000 per month. Energy deficient units, he said, had their own power generation that was either run on gas or oil.
In reply to a question, Mr Shenyang said that an agreement had been reached with the European Union over textile quotas extending it to 2007, with 12.5 per cent annual growth. However, he said China was still holding negotiations with the US and hoped that it would be resolved soon.
The delegation dealer pointed out that 93 per cent companies in China were in the private sector and the government had only seven per cent control on the industry. “There would be no problem for entering into joint ventures.”
He said Chinese concept of textile industry was to be sufficient from raw material to finished products and it took over 11 years to become textile and apparel manufacturer leaders of the world.
Mr Shenyang says the Chinese government could not force the industry to invest abroad, as it all depends on profit margin and this factor actually determines the flow of investment to a place.