In the past year, China's textile and apparel industry was hit by 15 foreign trade remedy investigations, with the number of cases increasing 15.3 percent year on year, and the amount involved was 2.414 billion U.S. dollars, up 15.6 percent year on year.

In the New Year, as an important part of China's "four-body linkage" in dealing with trade frictions, China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce will continue to help enterprises actively cope with and safeguard the interests of the industry under the guidance of the Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce and with the cooperation of local commercial authorities and enterprises, in-depth analysis of the characteristics of cases and precise promotion of response work. To optimize the legal service team and safeguard the high-quality development of textile and garment foreign trade.

In-depth analysis of the characteristics of the case

According to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Textiles, last year, launched trade remedy cases against textile and apparel products showed many characteristics. First of all, the initiator countries are concentrated, the key products are prominent, and the amount involved is large. More than half of the 15 investigations on textile and apparel products in 2022 came from Indonesia, India and the European Union, with several investigations involving hundreds of millions of dollars, including the EU polyester yarn review investigation involving 230 million dollars, the Indian rayon yarn anti-dumping investigation involving 256 million dollars, and the Indonesian three safeguard measures investigation involving 1.13 billion dollars.

Secondly, EU cases have strong knock-on effect and are difficult to deal with. In 2022, the EU launched a sunset review investigation, a mid-term review investigation and a separate anti-dumping investigation against Helide on Chinese polyester yarn. "In contrast to previous investigations, once a certain type of product is initiated by the EU, it is often followed by a series of investigations, and the review investigation usually does not modify the original duty rate, but decides to cancel or extend the original measure by judging whether dumping and injury will continue or reoccur. The investigation front of the EU is long and difficult, and the enthusiasm of industry enterprises to defend and deal with it is weak." China Textile Import and Export Chamber of Commerce deputy secretary-general Xiao Ling said.

Third, the safeguards survey products range wide, long duration. The first safeguard investigation against China's textile and garment industry in 2002 came from Venezuela. In 2022 alone, Turkey and Indonesia initiated four safeguard investigations on nylon products, as well as curtain, yarn and fabric products, involving a total of 126 tax numbers, amounting to about US $1.4 billion. "The launch of the review means that the period of restriction measures imposed on the companies involved has been extended again. At the same time, attention to the radiation effects of safeguards will also be a focus of the chamber's follow-up work." Xiao Ling said.

Actively organize industry defense

"For 15 textile and garment trade remedy cases in 2022 and 11 cases of transfer in 2021, the Textile Chamber of Commerce issued timely case warning and filing information, quickly analyzed the situation of products formally registered for investigation, reported the case to the relief bureau of the Ministry, and notified the relevant provincial departments and enterprises. For key cases, a response meeting shall be held after soliciting the opinions of all parties, and enterprises shall be organized to carry out industrial defense. The chamber of Commerce issued timely information on the case and the verdict on its official website and official account, and widely informed the enterprises." Xiao Ling said.

In response to the Peruvian garment safeguard measure case, the Textile Chamber of Commerce actively organized enterprises to participate in the industry no-harm defense. 24 December 2021 Peru launches safeguards investigation into clothing products involving $734 million. The Textile Chamber of Commerce organized the network response coordination meeting in time, and finally 11 enterprises participated in the industry without damage defense. "During this period, the Textile Chamber of Commerce held discussions on the case response for many times to determine the key products for defense and analyze the difficulties in response. Three times in response to provisional measures and product exclusion, filing notices and technical reports, as well as Peruvian import and export data; Actively participate in the online hearing and express opposing opinions. Xiao Ling said that at the end of April 2022, the Textile Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the three ministries of Peru to express their opinions on the interim measures in the case. Thanks to our efforts, in mid-May 2022, the Peruvian multi-sectoral Commission ruled that no interim measures should be taken. In August, the Peruvian investigative authority announced the conclusion of the investigation procedure and submitted the technical report of the case to the multi-sectoral Commission for deliberation. However, under pressure from many parties, the secret recipe has not officially disclosed the technical report and the final resolution.

In the face of the Indian viscose yarn anti-dumping case, the textile chamber of Commerce to defend the rights and interests of Chinese enterprises. On September 30, 2022, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India launched an anti-dumping investigation into viscose yarns, involving products worth $256 million. In this regard, Textile Chamber of Commerce successfully organized Xinxiang Chemical Fiber, Jilin Chemical Fiber, Yibin Haisite, Jilin Aika 4 enterprises to participate in industry defense and timely submit defense opinions. "In November 2022, the Indian side held a technical discussion on product control coding (PCN). Textile chamber representatives attended the meeting to express their interests, while Indian importers and downstream representatives voiced their objections. Later, the Indian investigation authority accepted our opinion and decided to include the viscose filament produced by the Indian plaintiff's copper pipe spinning (SSY) technology in the range of products under investigation, but did not accept the Indian plaintiff's opinion that dyeing and undyeing should not be distinguished. In this regard, we have won an initial victory in the product control code and the definition of the product scope under investigation." Xiao Ling said.

Efforts to build a strong business skills, unity, pragmatic, efficient, energetic and progressive work team, is the chamber of Commerce for the industry enterprises to provide accurate legal services, "this year, we are to improve the working mechanism, improve the depth and breadth of business research work. By expanding communication channels and increasing learning advanced work experience, we can further improve the accuracy of situation analysis and judgment. Second, we should carry out targeted work, actively respond to the demands of enterprises and earnestly safeguard their interests. Third, we should have the courage to practice, innovate working perspectives, develop new measures, enrich coping strategies, and further improve the quality and effectiveness of legal services." Xiao Ling said.