The earlier settlement of the pending Sino-US textile trade dispute is now a pressing issue for Chinese textile firms struggling for survival, as well as American retailers and consumers hoping to net gains from Chinese products.

"Our time is running out, but I can only get some marginal products. Can we expect American consumers to take towels for pants next year?" American businessman Johnason Lee was heard yelling at the 98th Chinese Export Commodities Fair that opened Saturday in Guangzhou.

Deals struck at the biannual event normally make up one third of China's general trade every year. The fall fairs often find worldwide buyers place orders for the coming year and sometimes short-term orders for the coming months.

At this year's fall event, however, uncertainties loom on both sides of the negotiation table.

"Nothing is certain, which means nothing can be done," said Tao Huaiping, general manager of the Knitwear Imports and Exports Co. under the Huihong Group, a leading textile and apparel exporter.

"Unless China and the United States reach an agreement, we won't take any order -- it's far too risky," Tao told Xinhua in an interview.

For Tao and many other Chinese textile businessmen, the United States and Europe are still their major markets. China's exports to these two destinations totaled 25.1 billion US dollars in the first eight months of this year, 34 percent of the country's total exports, according to China Textile Import and Export Chamber.

According to a latest China-EU deal reached on Sept. 5, Chinese textiles blocked at European ports were to enter the European Union again as of Sept. 14, ending a trade row that had items from lingerie to pullovers pile up in customs warehouses.

China, nevertheless, is yet to strike a "win-win" deal with the United States on export quantities and growth rates for the coming few years. A sixth round of Sino-US talks ended Thursday without reaching agreement.

"Chinese textile firms hope the two countries will strike deal soon because Chinese businesses have been much disturbed by the US restrictive trade policies over the past year," said the chamber's vice-president Cao Xinyu.

Besides, uncertainties have so far disrupted the trade environment and next year's production plan, he said.

A Chinese businessman complained with Xinhua Saturday not a single American merchant visited his exhibition stand.

"The unilateral restrictive measures taken by the United States since May have incurred huge losses to many Chinese companies," said Wang Dingying, general manager of Taipingniao Import and Export Co. Ltd, a textile exporter based in Ningbo, east China's Zhejiang Province.

Wang said many of his company's US clients declined to attend the fair because no agreement has been reached between the two countries.

Johnason Lee said he understands how the Chinese businesses feel. "I myself have shortened my stay in Guangzhou from three days to one day. I'm just here to have a look at the samples, to have a brief idea of the market situation and to meet some old friends. No one is here to place an order."

Most of the Chinese products the United States has restricted or is ready to restrict are knitwear and cotton-knitted stuff such as trousers, shirts and chemical fiber underwear. "Products that are most needed by the US consumers," said Tao.

While most Chinese businesses worry about next year's exports to the United States, many US buyers also fear the growth rate of Chinese textile exports will continue to be restrained.

Many American buyers are also concerned that their government has not taken into account the actual market situation and people's desire to do business in China.

"Despite barriers set by the government, we have to meet the customers' needs by selling Chinese textiles to the States. That's the only way for us businessmen to make money," said George Seaverfrom Los Angeles-based Palomares Apparel Inc.

Seaver said he and his Chinese partners will study carefully the US government's rules of game and bypass the restrictive categories. "Some products may have to enter the US from a third country. We must say that's more complicated, less profitable."

Source: Xinhua