Growth of Chinese apparel exports showed downward turn every month in the first four months of this year.

In the first four months, China's apparel exports increased 15.6 percent year-on-year to 19.27 billion US dollars, according to figures from the Chinese customs.

In the first two months, cloth export scored a growth of 28.1 percent on yearly basis. The figure further slowed to 15.9 percent in the first quarter, and 15.6 percent by the end of April.

Industry analysts said the growth is expected to be further slowed down after China's decision to levy heavy taxes on apparel exports effective from June 1.

China has announced to raise export tariffs on 74 sorts of textile products, with a 400-percent hike for most of them, from June 1.

The growth of China's foreign trade jumped 34 percent in the first four months, much higher than the growth rate of apparel exports, customs figures showed.

Source: Xinhua