EU Experts Head to China for Textile Talks

BRUSSELS, Belgium_EU negotiators will fly to Beijing on Wednesday for talks on a textiles trade row threatening fall and winter clothing lines in European stores.

Some cheap Chinese clothing imports have been blocked from entering the EU after six textile categories exceeded European trade limits in July and August.

Shirts, bras and flax yarn have now joined sweaters, men's trousers and blouses in overrunning EU quota limits for 2005 that China agreed to in June.

Brussels is facing growing calls for import limits to be relaxed as retailers complain that they cannot stock shelves with goods they ordered from China without obtaining a special import license.

Earlier this month, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson won backing from EU states to increase the 2005 quotas for sweaters as the number of stranded shipments increased.

However, he blamed greedy retailers for rushing to place huge last-minute orders of Chinese clothing to get goods into Europe ahead of a July 12 cut-off date.

EU negotiators won't receive new orders allowing them to negotiate new limits for the other categories until EU countries meet again on Thursday.

An EU official speaking under condition of anonymity said trade experts had a range of options, including bringing forward part of the 2006 quota to this year.

He claimed this would not store up problems for the future as storeowners would have clear figures on the amount of imports allowed for next season.

China's textile exports have risen sharply since permanent quotas were abolished on Jan. 1, 2005 _ three years after it joined the World Trade Organization.

The European Commission has placed 10 categories of Chinese textile products, including T-shirts, sweaters and bed linens, on a watchlist.

It has also started an investigation into claims that Beijing and India are dumping shoes on European markets, and has threatened punitive customs duties on the imports to raise shoe prices