The Ministry of Industry and Information expects the nation´s cotton textiles and clothing exports will continue to witness the negative growth in the first half of 2009 amid shrinking overseas demand. Facing already thin profit margins, many manufactures will come under threat from intense competition and price war in the domestic market, the ministry said. In 2008 the total cotton textiles and clothing exports in China amounted to 71.7 billion US dollars, indicating a year-on-year decrease of 0.41 percent, of which, 20.8 billion US dollars worth of cotton textiles were sold abroad, up 14.16 percent; cotton clothing 50.9 billion US dollars, down 5.35 percent from a year earlier.

Source: China Textile Leader