- Title: THE NETHERLANDS: THE FIST CHINESE GOODS ARE RELEASED FROM ROTTERDAM HARBOUR
- Date: 14th September 2005
- Summary: (BN14) ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (SEPTEMBER 14, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. LV SWAN AND HUGE CRANES IN ROTTERDAM HARBOUR 0.02 2. LV/SLV VARIOUS OF BOATS SAILING IN AND OUT (3 SHOTS) 0.23 3. SLV LORRY REVERSING 0.34 4. SLV INSIDE EBREX WAREHOUSE 0.38 5. SLV PILE OF GOODS IN BOXES 0.43 6. CU SIGN ON BOXES SAYING: "NEDERLAND" 0.48 7. SV JUNIOR (DEPUTY) TRADE MINISTER KARIEN VAN GENNIP WATCHING AS WOMAN OPENS THE FIRST BOX OF CHINESE GOODS 0.59 8. CLOSE OF VAN GENNIP 1.03 9. SV FIRST T-SHIRT BEING TAKEN OUT OF BOX 1.12 10. SV VAN GENNIP TELLING PEOPLE TO UNPACK BOXES 1.22 11. SLV BOXES BEING MOVED 1.30 12. MCU (English) JUNIOR TRADE MINISTER KARIEN VAN GENNIP, SAYING: "This is the first Chinese sweater that's entering the Dutch market today. We are in a large warehouse where all the sweaters, trousers, brassieres were waiting to enter the European Union. Dutch traders, European traders, producers, now know what they need to anticipate to. For next year the quota are clear. For this year the problem was that the quota were installed mid year. So they didn't know what to expect and already many contracts were agreed to in January and February and paid for it in early spring so it's arriving in the harbours now, and that was the problem. So for the next year at least the quotas are clear, so producers can anticipate it, but of course in the end, we would like to have a world without quota." 2.15 13. SV/SLV VAN GENNIP TRYING TO DRIVE SOME BOXES AWAY (2 SHOTS) 2.26 14. MCU (English) HAN BEKKE, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF TRADE ASSOCIATION FOR FASHION AND INTERIOR TEXTILES, SAYING: "For Holland we are talking about 5 million pullovers, 2 million trousers and a lot of t-shirts and bras. The estimate value in the shops is more than a hundred million euro." 2.40 15. VARIOUS OF ROTTERDAM HARBOUR WITH CRANES AND BOATS SAILING (3 SHOTS) 2.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 29th September 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVAA4PDF4L76C102CKJBSIALRDUH
- Story Text: The first Chinese goods are released from Rotterdam harbour.
Dutch Deputy Trade Minister Karien Van Gennip officially released the first Chinese-made T-shirts on Wednesday (September
14), a few millions of which have been lying in Rotterdam Harbour warehouses for weeks as EU-China trade quotas were breached and
goods were not allowed to enter EU.
Millions of Chinese-made garments impounded in ports and
warehouses in Europe began to flood into the shops again after
the European Commission struck a deal with China on textile
import quotas and officially released the clothes as of midnight Tuesday night.
But some European retailers say the quotas system is a 'lose
lose' system which is bad for their business and will in no way
help European textile producers.
More than 80 million garments were reportedly piling up in European
warehouses and customs checkpoints. Retailers began to complain that their shelves would be bare for the autumn and winter seasons unless the withheld clothes were allowed in.
"This is the first Chinese sweater that's entering the Dutch
market today.... in the end, we would like to have a world without
quotas," said Van Gennip.
Han Bekke, Director General of the Trade Association for Fashion and
Interior Textiles said Dutch shops had been waiting for millions of
euros-worth of products.
"For Holland we are talking about 5 million pullovers, 2 million
trousers and a lot of t-shirts and bras. The estimate value in the shops is more than a hundred million euro," he said.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and Chinese Commerce Minister Bo
Xilai agreed last week to allow half of the excess garments into the market outside quota rules, and for half to be counted against limits for future years.
Ever since the World Trade Organization's longstanding system of
textile quotas expired at the beginning of this year, European textile
producers have been lobbying for limits on what Chinese garments they feel are flooding home markets.
After consultations, the two sides eventually signed an agreement
expiring in 2007 which gives European manufacturers time to adjust to a world of unfettered competition.
The deal, however, seemed not to have taken into account the European
bloc retailers. Many of them ordered Chinese textiles without knowing of the impending new limits.
The consequences were that barely a month after the deal, sweaters
imported from China exceeded the restated quotas; another week later, men's trousers, blouses, bras, T-shirts and flax yarn hit the limits one after another.
Marathon-style talks were held in Beijing, resulting in China and the
EU agreeing to "a satisfactory and equitable solution."
Under the agreement reached on September 5, all blocked Chinese
textiles would be allowed to enter the EU markets under the principle of equally sharing the burden.
Some analysts warn that the EU should speed up the industrial
modernization and structural reform to transform itself into a
knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy rather than return to an
industry-based union.
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