Ｓｐｅｅｄｕｐ ｉｎ ｃｏｍｐｅｔｉｔｉｖｅｎｅｓｓ ｓｌｏｗｄｏｗｎ ｉｎ ｅｘｐｏｒｔ ｇｒｏｗｔｈ

The wool textile production has always been one of theunderpinnings of China's industrial chain. At present， withmore than four million wool spindles， China's wool industryis already ahead of the world in terms of quantity. Besides，it's also featured by the integral system， large productionscale， high-quality but relatively lower-cost labor force andcapacity of producing a broad spectrum of products and servicecategories.

With wool and rare animals' fiber as its raw materialsand dozens of refined processes， wool textile products areestimated as exquisite and of high-grade goods. However，for quite a long time， China's wool product had always beenlabeled as traditional varieties lack of innovation. Not merelythe quality， the style of products， but also the finished woolgarments and many other relevant services all used to lagbehind world's taste. Thereafter， leveraging technologicalinnovation， China's wool industry began to optimize itsindustrial structure， product structure and technical structure.Facts proved that all those efforts are deserved; now China'swool industry enjoys an increasingly strong competitivenessin international market and a steady growth in export.

Rising Competitiveness

As the demand for wool products tends to be in pursuitof fashion， individuality， and function， conventionalwool products can not satisfy consumers any longer andinevitably encountered international trade barriers. Undersuch circumstance， domestic wool enterprises actively seekbreakthroughs in technology， products and management， atthe same time， they constantly developed new varieties tooccupy international market. In recent years， China's wooltextile export volume grew rapidly and value-added productscontinue to expand. China's wool textile products exportprices， especially wool yam prices soar rapidly， up by even82.09%， so does hair woven garment export prices， with anincrease of 34.36%.

In 2001， China's wool product export competitivenessindex was 0.56， and when it came to January to April in2007， the index rose to 0.77， which means the products' tradestructure tends to be more exports-oriented with comparativeedge. This proved that China's wool textile products'competitiveness is on increment in the international market.

Wool imports strongly increasesin March

Consolidated data showed that China's wool importsrebounded strongly in March， reaching a record volumetotaling 34.5 mkg clean， and up strongly year-on-year. The topthree wool suppliers by country were Australia， New Zealandand Uruguay.

China's wool imports from Australia increased stronglyyear-on-year in March， allowing Australia to retain topsupplier status. New Zealand again replaced Uruguay as thesecond largest supplier for China's wool imports， but stillreported a decline year-on-year - the seventh consecutivedecline since September 2006. Imports from the third largestsupplier Uruguay reported a very solid gain year-on-yearduring March.

By category， greasy wool remained the major form ofwool imported into China. Imports for scoured wool wereup and carbonized wool was down. Top has gradually lostits position in China's wool imports as China has become theworld's largest early stage wool processor.

Slowdown in export due to tradeenvironment

From January to April this year， China's export of woolproducts valued at 1.613 billion U.S. dollars， up by 6.87%compared to the same period of last year， but decreased a lotcompared to the whole year's annual increase margin in 2006and the lapse of the 10th five-year plan， which were 30.37%and 16%， respectively.

This situation was mainly caused by a serial of unfavorablefactors， such as reduction of export tax rebate， continuedappreciation of the RMB， rising labor costs， increasingdifficulties in employment and many countries continued orwere ready to implement special protective measures， anti-dumping measures or other restrictions. Meanwhile， thedomestic market evolved rapidly， which contributed to China'swool textile products to accelerate the pace of opening upthe domestic market. So the slowdown in export growth isapprehensive.

Historically， the growth of China's wool products exporthas always been outpaced by that of cotton and chemical fibertextiles industries. In 2001， the ratio of wool textile products'export volume to the entire textile industry was 6.56%， by2006， the proportion dwindled to 5%， and when it came toApril this year， the figure shrunk to 3.55%.

Decline in central and westernregion's export

Ever since the launch of lOth five-year plan， industriallayout gradually shifted to areas with comparative advantagesfrom the original major cities that cost relatively high. Theprocess of middle- and low-end products transferred to coastalregion close to market; the production of primary processedones mainly gather in Hebei whose labor cost is relativelylow. Currently， Jiangsu， Zhejiang， Shandong， Guangdong，Shanghai and Hebei Province are the main wool productsprocessing base.

Gradual shortage of raw materials， labor and land resourcescoupled with enhancement of local people's consciousness ofenvironmental protection in coastal areas made central andwestern regions the best place to engage in wool industry.Judging from export performance during the 10th five-yearplan， wool products export in central and western regions tookon a more robust growth. However， influenced by the overalltrading environment， the export in central and western regionsdescended rapidly from January to April this year.

According to the export performance of different regionsfrom January to April in 2007， we can infer that eastern regionis still our main wool's export area with a steady growth. Itsexports volume amounted to 1.46 billion U.S. dollars， up by10.29% compared to the same period of last year， accountingfor 90% of the total of the country.

Central and western regions with a relatively small sharein market are easily subject to the overall trade environment.From January to April in 2007， the value of wool productsexported of central region and western region stood at 126million U.S. dollars and 28 million U.S. dollars， accountingfor 8% and 2% of the total， respectively. From January toApril in 2007， the wool product exports of western and centralregions were down by 34.65% and 12.72%， respectively.

China's wool products exportgrowth in EU market tends to bestable

China's wool textile products export destinations coversabout 160 countries or regions. Till April of 2007， there arefour major markets which import China's wool products withthe turnover of more than 100 million U.S. dollars accountingfor 71% of the total of China's export value. They are Japan，EU， the United States and Hong Kong.

Since the beginning of this year， China's traditionalmarkets， like Japan， the United States and Hong Kong showeda downward tendency in varying degrees compared to 2006with regards to wool's export growth margin， down by 4.47%，20.26% and 0.65%， respectively. And as to EU market， theamplitude in exports decreased by 101.74%. On January 1，2007， Bulgaria and Romania became members of the EU withtheir foreign trade management system docking into EU， whichdemonstrated that Chinese textile export to Bulgaria， Romaniawere also incorporated into Sino-EU textile agreement andour export volume to them will be restricted. From January toApril in 2007， China's exports of wool products to Bulgaria andRomania unfold negative growth. That is， the wool productsexported to Romania and Bulgarian valued at 1.96 million U.S.dollars and 1.35 million U.S. dollars， declining by 94.53% and43.58% over the same period of last year.