BEIJING - China and the United States failed on Thursday to cut a deal to regulate China's booming textile shipments, immediately prompting American manufacturers to seek curbs on imports of towels made in China. With time running out for an agreement before year-end, the stalemate means U.S. retailers will face uncertainty about just how much they will be able to import from China until the end of 2008, when curbs on its textile exports will lapse. "We have not come to an agreement that meets

The European commission is set to re-table its proposal for a ?bn package to help countries affected by globalisation and industry restructuring. The ?rowth adjustment fund?proposal will be included in a paper the commission is to adopt next Thursday (20 October) and is to be presented at a meeting of EU leaders later this month.The Commission was asked to come up with an idea on what Europe should do to meet the challenges of globalisation - but the fund it is proposing is directly linked to ne

China and the United States yesterday kicked off a new round of talks in Beijing, harbouring hopes to find a comprehensive solution to settle the long drawn-out disputes in this round. The Chinese delegation is headed by Lu Jianhua, director of the Foreign Trade Department under the Ministry of Commerce while David Spooner, special negotiator for textiles at the US Trade Representative's Office, leads the US side, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. The closed-door meeting, held i

China and the United States hold a new round of textile talks Wednesday but the Chinese industry is pessimistic that progress can be made, blaming Washington's insincerity for the stalemate. The two-day talks in Beijing are aimed at forging an agreement to regulate Chinese textile exports, which have soared since global quotas were scrapped on January 1. The last round of negotiations ended without agreement in Washington last month. Sun Huaibin, spokesman for the China National Textile Appar

Fears that China would swallow up between a third and 50 percent of all world textile trade with the end of a global export quota system earlier this year have not materialised, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said in a report Tuesday. On January 1, all quotas on textiles and clothing exports came to an end, sparking fears that China would flood the market, undercutting competitors in Europe, the United States and crucially, many parts of the developing world. In the event, however

The threat posed by surging post-quota Chinese exports has not been as great as predicted. A report by the ILO identifies reasons such as safeguards and China's development away from labour-intensive manufacturing industries contributing to lower than expected export growth rates. Other Asian nations such as Bangladesh and Cambodia are doing better than previously expected whilst India has had mixed results. Ahead of its meeting in Geneva, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has publish

The European Union was under pressure on Wednesday to accept lower barriers to farm goods as ministers from leading World Trade Organisation states (WTO) struggled for a breakthrough in global trade talks.After the United States gave a fillip to the negotiations, which face an end-year deadline, by offering what it called "deep" cuts in its farm subsidies, Brussels faced intense calls to match the move and ease its stance on tariffs."There is movement, although insufficient," said Brazil's Forei

PARIS_The Paris pret-a-porter shows that closed this week left clear indicators for how women should dress for spring-summer 2006: There was an air of romanticism and dignity in nearly every collection. Attendance at every catwalk show was packed to the rafters _ in contrast to past seasons, where many seats were left vacant. Many feel that as designers are creating pretty, romantic and reasonable clothes for "real" women, interest is on the rise. Nearly every designer had some version of the

Polyester filament yarn output went up 5.6 percent to 95,252 tons in July 2005, according to data available with Association of Synthetic Fibre Industry.It also mentions that polyester staple fibre production dipped 2.1 percent to 55,070 tons during the same period.However, viscose staple fibre output dropped sharply at 19.6 percent at 16,265 tons, while viscose filament yarn manufacturing output improved marginally at 0.4 percent to 4,445 tons.There was a 4.4 percent drop in output of acrylic f

Columbus based global management consulting and market research firm specializing in retail intelligence and strategies, Retail Formward says there is some good news for global apparel brands and apparel specialty stores, which face a threat from a growing wave of no-name store brands sourced in China and other low-cost countries and sold at hypermarkets and supercenters.Consumers in developing countries-particularly China, India, Russia, Mexico and Brazil- are buying and paying more for well-kn