French Trade Ministry released yesterday figures of Chinese textiles blocked in European ports.

A total of 5.9 million sweaters, 1.2 million pairs of trousers, 121,150 blouses, 52,600 T-shirts and nearly 10,600 bras imported from China are currently being held in French ports.

The ministry also said that 40 containers merchandises with a value of 5 to 6 million euros (US$7 million) are waiting for customs entry.

For Germany, 9.8 million sweaters, 3.2 million pairs of trousers, 201,200 blouses, 920,000 T-shirts and 1.6 million bras have been seized.

For Italy, 9 million sweaters, 3.8 million pairs of trousers, 14,600 blouses, 136,400 T-shirts and 1,470 tons of flax yarn have been intercepted.

For Spain, 5.4 million sweaters, 1.3 million trousers, 16,800 blouses, 107,300 T-shirts and 901,500 bras are blocked.

For Britain, 5.2 million sweaters, 1.8 million pairs of trousers, 45,700 blouses, 88,600 T-shirts and 404,000 bras are awaiting clearance in customs.

A total 48.3 million sweaters, 17.1 million pairs of trousers and nearly 500,000 blouses produced in China are currently blocked in European ports, and 1.6 million T-shirts, 3.4 million bras and 1,470 tons of flax yarn are also being kept back, because the quotas imposed by the European Union on Chinese textile exports have already been filled, said the French ministry.

The quotas were imposed after the European Commission and the Chinese Trade Ministry reached an agreement on June 10 as a measure at the strong request of a number of member states to protect European textile manufacturers by limiting Chinese imports to Europe.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2005)