China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on Sunday the establishment of the country's first-ever textile index system, to better reflect the development of the textile industry and its market.

The textile index system is based on data collected by the China Textile City located in Shaoxing County of east China's Zhejiang Province.

As one of the largest textile distribution centers in the world, the China Textile City saw 50 billion yuan (US$6.7 billion) of transaction volume registered in 2006.

The system includes the price index, the business index, the export index and the order index, which will reflect the price movement of the domestic textile market, the ups and downs of the textile export market, and the change of orders accepted by textile producers and operators.

The price index will be published every Monday to indicate textile prices during the past week, while the business index and the export index will be available every month.

"The system is expected to provide a more complete, accurate and also the latest market information for textile producers, purchasers and operators at home and abroad," said Huang Hai, assistant minister with the MOC.

(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2007)