Foreign sales of Chinese textiles and garments grew at a single-digit pace in the first seven months, compared with the year-on-year growth rate of 24.4 percent for the same period last year, the General Administration of Customs said on Tuesday.

Mounting production costs and weak demand abroad combined to account for the slowdown, industry observers said.

Between January and July, China exported 100.36 billion U.S. dollars worth of textiles and garments, up 7.67 percent, but well down from the 24.4 percent growth rate for the same period last year.

The total included 62.49 billion U.S. dollars worth of garments and accessories, up 3.4 percent, and 16.55 billion dollars worth of shoes, an increase of 14.2 percent. The growth rates were 19.6 percentage points and 4.3 percentages points lower, respectively, than the year-earlier level.

China recently increased the tax rebate to 13 percent for textile and clothing exports to bail out its more than 60,000 struggling smaller textile enterprises.

Zhang Bin, a Guojin Securities analyst, said the effects of the new tax rebate policy would likely take hold in October. It was expected to help reduce costs and increase the profit margins of textile and clothing exporters.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)