China's Ministry of Commerce on Friday released the result of the first quota bidding for textile export to the European Union next year.

A total of 5,284 bid offers had been received by the ministry, with 3,385 enterprises acquiring export quotas. Most enterprises winning quotas are competitive ones which badly need more export quotas and new enterprises which plan to enter the EU market.

China and the European Union reached an agreement on their textile trade in June this year, setting new quotas on ten categories of textile products from China next year.

The Ministry of Commerce decided to invite bids from domestic enterprises for part of those quotas next year, so as to encourage the export of products with high added value and change the traditional growth mode of foreign trade.

Thirty percent of the agreed quotas for 2006 will be distributed through bidding, and quotas in the first bidding from Sept. 27 to 29 account for 60 percent of all bidding quotas for 2006, according to an official with the Ministry of Commerce, who said a fair and open principle has been followed.

Any registered and qualified enterprise with an export license and an export record in the bidding category is eligible to join the bidding process, the official said.

A total of 20,047 enterprises across the country were qualified to join the bidding, with 6,935 having been given bidding permission numbers.

Source: Xinhua