According to data released by government officials, after implementing quota management, South Africa has succeeded in limiting the import of 31 categories of Chinese products in the first half of 2007.

The move, which was put into effect in January this year, was deemed necessary because according to the Clothing and Textile Workers' League of South Africa, 67,000 workers have lost their jobs since 2002 because of free trade.

But thanks to quota management, around 50,000 jobs have been created. Import of Chinese clothing and textiles has also gone down sharply. In the first season of this year, import value of Chinese textiles decreased by over 34 percent than the same period last year.

The share of Chinese clothing and textiles in South Africa's import market also fell from 71.7 percent in the first season of 2006 to 53.8 percent in 2007.

However, since import of clothing and textiles from other countries did not fall along with those of China, they replaced the market space made available by the absence of Chinese products.

South Africa is also bound to face problems once the limit imposed on Chinese textile products ends in 2009.
 
Fibre2fashion News Desk - China