XN000022-1976-08-20 — Page 5

-

FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1976

-

TEXTILE QUOTA UTILISATION POSITION

*****

THE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT TODAY PUBLISHED THE END OF JULY 1976 FIGURES ON THE UTILISATION OF QUOTAS IN RESPECT OF ALL RESTRAINED MARKETS.

COMMENTING ON THE FIGURES, A SPOKESMAN FOR THE COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY DEPARTMENT SAID THAT WHILST THE RATE OF UTILISATION WAS HIGH IN A NUMBER OF CATEGORIES TO CERTAIN MARKETS, THE FLEXIBILITY PROVISIONS IN THE AGREEMENTS COULD ENABLE HONG KONG TO EXPORT UP TO CERTAIN SPECIFIED PERCENTAGES OVER AND ABOVE THE RESTRAINT LIMITS.

HE ALSO POINTED OUT THAT FREE QUOTAS FOR CERTAIN CATEGORIES AND MARKETS WERE STILL AVAILABLE FOR APPLICATION AND INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD GET IN TOUCH WITH THE DEPARTMENT FOR FURTHER DETAILS.

FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE QUOTA POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE EEC, HONG KONG'S TWO MAJOR TEXTILE MARKETS.

USA

IN THE FIRST 10 MONTHS OF THE US TEXTILE RESTRAINT PERIOD WHICH BEGAN ON OCTOBER 1, 1975, TOTAL QUOTAS USED AMOUNTED TO 644 MILLION EQUIVALENT SQUARE YARDS OR 73 PER CENT OF THE OVERALL ANNUAL LIMIT. FIGURES SHOWING THE QUANTITIES LICENSED FOR EXPORTS AND PERCENTAGE UTILISATION ON A GROUP BASIS ARE SET OUT BELOW :

DESCRIPTION

QUANTITY PERCENTAGE UTILISATION LICENSED AGAINST GROUP LIMITS

GROUP 1 YARNS AND FABRICS OF

COTTON AND MAN-MADE FIBRES

165.8

69 PER CENT

GROUP II APPAREL OF COTTON AND

MAN-MADE FIBRES

428.7

78 PER CENT

GROUP 111 MADE-UPS AND MISCELLANEOUS

27

49 PER CENT

ARTICLES OF COTTON AND MAN-MADE FIBRES

23

55 PER CENT

GROUP IV WOOL TEXTILE AND APPAREL

NOTE: FIGURES ON QUANTITY LICENSED ARE IN MILLION EQUIVALENT

SQUARE YARDS.

OF THE CATEGORIES SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC LIMITS IN THE HONG KONG/US TEXTILE AGREEMENT, THE RATE OF UTILISATION IN FOUR OUT OF 21 CATEGORIES COULD BE DESCRIBED AS RELATIVELY HIGH, THESE FOUR CATEGORIES WERE CATEGORY 22/23 (TWILL AND SATEEN), CATEGORY 41/42/43/62(2) (COTTON KNIT T-SHIRTS AND OTHER KNIT SHIRTS AND BLOUSES EXCEPT SWEAT-SHIRTS), CATEGORY 50/51 (COTTON WOVEN TROUSERS) AND CATEGORY 218/219/224(5) (M.M.F. KNIT SHIRTS, BLOUSES, TOPS AND- VESTS).

IN ADDITION,