The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and nine other central government departments have issued a joint circular calling for the accelerated restructuring of the country's textile industry.

The restructuring is designed to improve the innovative capacity of the industry, which currently only spends 0.3 percent of its sales income on research and development and imports most of its sophisticated equipment.

Insufficient supply of cotton, chemical fibers and other raw materials have become a major bottleneck for China's textile industry. The circular calls for the use of linen, bamboo and other alternative materials as well as recycled fibers.

As the textile industry has become a major consumer of water and is lagging behind other industries in the use of treated water, the circular says efforts must be made to promote the practice of clean production and cut energy consumption.

By 2010, water consumption for per ton of fiber production should be cut by 20 percent, the quantity of fiber used for each dollar of products shall also be cut by 20 percent, the circular says.

The circular calls on China's more developed coastal regions to focus on brand building, marketing, research and development and other high value-adding businesses while allowing the labor-intensive businesses to move to the relatively backward central and western parts.

The government will also lend its support to the development of large enterprises that not only have advanced technology and equipment, but whose own brands have international influence, the circular says.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2006)