On the morning of May 3, the Ministry of Commerce held a symposium for textile export enterprises at the Canton Fair exhibition hall. Qiu Hong, Deputy Director of the Canton Fair and Assistant Minister of Commerce, attended the meeting.
The symposium invited relevant leaders of the commercial authorities of Guangdong Province and Jiangsu Province, as well as representatives of 18 enterprises including Shanghai Oriental, Shandong Vosges, Guangzhou Textile, and Jiangsu Textile to attend the symposium. Representatives attending the meeting reported on the export situation of the region and the company since this year, including export orders, quantities, prices, market changes, as well as the positive measures taken by the company to expand the market, adjust the structure, and respond to the crisis. They also truthfully reflected the current encounters. main difficulties and make suggestions.
Representatives spoke enthusiastically at the symposium. They reflected that since the first quarter of this year, textile exports have recovered and are better than the same period last year, but the situation in the second half of the year is still unclear. Affected by factors such as rising labor costs, rising prices of raw materials, especially cotton, stronger expectations for RMB appreciation, and increasing difficulty in financing, textile exports still face severe challenges; in addition, the recovery of the European and American markets is not as good as expected, and merchants are less able to bear the price. Greatly reduced, enterprises are in a dilemma during negotiations and are relatively passive. Therefore, representatives attending the meeting called on the government to continue to maintain the continuity and stability of foreign trade policies; maintain the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate; take measures to conduct macro-control of cotton prices to stabilize raw material prices; increase support for high-quality enterprises; promote Solve problems such as labor difficulties and labor shortages in enterprises. At the same time, business representatives also made suggestions on the exhibition period setting, exhibition planning services, exhibition area layout, etc. of the Canton Fair.
After carefully listening to the speeches of the representatives, Qiu Hong pointed out that the textile industry is my country’s traditional advantageous industry, accounting for an important share of the country’s total exports, and is also the main source of my country’s trade surplus. Since the financial crisis, textile and garment enterprises have faced difficulties, overcome them, and made tremendous efforts. Regarding the questions and suggestions raised by the representatives, she said that the relevant government departments will do everything possible to consider the enterprises, formulate plans that are in line with national interests and enterprise development, and further promote the healthy development of the industry. Assistant Qiu Hong also pointed out that the problems exposed by enterprises in the financial crisis are fundamentally about development methods and competitive strength. She requires enterprises to continuously improve their core competitiveness, make great efforts to tap internal potential, strengthen internal construction, develop marketable products, fundamentally change their development methods, and promote sustainable and healthy economic development. Regarding the suggestions put forward by business representatives on the Canton Fair holding model and improving services, Qiu Hong believed that this reflected the support of the majority of companies for the Canton Fair. She said that the Canton Fair will continue to reform and innovate, improve services, and help foreign trade companies better go global.
