Joseph PelzmanGeorge Washington University, USA

andBen-Gurion University of the Negev, ISRAEL

Amir ShohamCollege of ManagementRishon L’Tzion, ISRAEL

and

Sapir Academic College, Sderot, ISRAEL

The Multi-Fiber textile and apparel quota Arrangement (MFA) died on December 31, 2004.

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How will textile and apparel trade evolve in this environment?

Will market competition lead to a single country – China (PRC) dominating all segments of this market?

What of Vietnam? Is it a contender?

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The most important characteristic of the textile and apparel quota system is that it was◦ an ex-post set of trade restrictions imposed on ◦ a subset of developing countries ◦ on a subset of three-digit T & A categories ◦ which are fiber based ◦ with room to borrow across categories and time.

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These restrictions, while binding in most cases, created a rent seeking cycle for exporting producers who took advantage of the restrictions and the accompanying quota licenses.

In some countries these licenses were auctioned and in others an options market was created.

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It also encouraged upgrading and a shift of domestic resources to a set of products whose potential sales were pre-determined.

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In many cases both the domestic competition in importing countries and the exporters in developing countries shared the benefits of higher prices.

The mark-up in the US market on imported T&A products could rise to 500 percent.

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An exhaustive list of externalities (both positive and negative) is not possible but if we start to build such a list it would include:◦ Distorting the pattern of international trade;◦ Limiting the market access for efficient producers

while inducing the entry of less efficient producers;

◦ Creating rents for both exporters in LDCs and retailers in developed markets, thus leading to rent seeking activity;

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◦ Slowing down the out-migration of resources from the industry;

◦ Creating distortionary quota rents;◦ Creating upgrading in value added;◦ Etc.

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B

A

SC

DC

PW (1+t)

Figure 1: Controlled Market

PW (1+t) (1+q)

SC

◦ The restriction of T&A trade started in the late 1950s with temporary measures; (STA, LTA)

◦ In 1974 the MFA was introduced;◦ In 1995 the Uruguay Round provided for a ten

year transition (ATC) to a free market solution;

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◦ The reality is that over 60 percent of quota bound items remained quota bound on 12/31/04. (Pelzman & Reese, 1998 and Pelzman 2004)

◦ China accession to the WTO resulted in a side agreement or Memorandum of Understanding which granted the US (and Europe) the ability to re-impose the quota by category till 12/31/08.

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How will the volume and composition of Chinese and (its new competitor) Vietnam exports to the United States change as a result of increased market access?

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A recent WTO study (August 2004) predicted that China would increase its share of the U.S. textile market from 11 percent to 18 percent and its apparel market share from 16 percent to 50 percent.

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0 0.5 1 2

-.5 34 2

3 35 1

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Estimated Demand Elasticities for 57 3-digit categories:

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0 1 2 3 4 5C j V j W j D j

DM = + + + + + P P P P E

i j

Table 2 presents the GLS estimates for US import demand of T&A products from Vietnam.

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The overall conclusion that one can draw from these results is that out of a total of 20 three digit categories where competition is possible, there are only five categories where the cross price elasticity of a change in PRC’s prices on US imports from Vietnam is significantly different from zero.

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In category 335, women and girl cotton coats, for every 1 percent increase in China’s price US imports from Vietnam would rise by 23.2 percent, a substitute product;

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in category 347, men and boys cotton trousers and shorts, for every 1 percent increase in China’s price US imports from Vietnam would rise by 6.12 percent, a substitute product;

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in category 635,women and girls man-made fiber coats, for every 1 percent increase in China’s price US imports from Vietnam would rise by 8.29 percent, suggesting a substitute product;

in category 636, man-made fiber dresses, for every 1 percent increase in China’s

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During the long history of the MFA, the search for low wage producers was a key explanatory variable for the world’s distribution of quotas.

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In the past decade, this has changed drastically.

Currently, the primary ingredient for a successful T & A sector is quick turnaround time for apparel and economies of scale for textiles.

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In the apparel segment of the industry, which is considered by many to be fashion-oriented, time sensitivity is even more crucial.

While the low-wage sewing provides some competitive advantages to developing countries, it is only applicable to the assembly process of low end garments and does not necessarily lead to the development of a sophisticated T&A sector.

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China, which represents the higher end T&A industry, has managed to combine its export-led strategy in T&A with the development of higher value-added segments of the supply chain.

This was achieved by integrating scale economies with diversification of its labor pool, upgrading domestic skills in local design, material sourcing, quality control, logistics and retail distribution.

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What factors (cultural and economic) explain this outcome?

A number of factors are prominent:◦ Degree of State intervention;◦ Objective function of the State;◦ Importance of Diverse Interest Groups;◦ Democracy vs. Authoritarian Regimes;◦ Ability to control economic resources;

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In the case of China, cotton is regarded as a “strategic” commodity.

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Every aspect of cotton from distribution of seeds, production, internal and external sales, and firm consumption are part of a complex set of State interventions. (OECD, 2005).◦ Price floors;◦ Tariff – rate quotas on imports;

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The single State objective function is to provide a ‘stable’ supply of high grade cotton to the textile industry;

Farmer constituencies do not affect this single minded objective.

Farmer’s are assured of sales at pre-determined prices (early stage) and by direct links (later stages).

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Multi step production functions: Spinning fibers into thread or yarn; Weaving or knitting thread or yarn into

fabrics; and

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Chemically processing to finish the fabric. In non-woven fabrics we have mechanically,

thermally or chemically bonding or interlocking fibers, filaments or yarns.

Efficiency requires large runs, capital-intensive processes and some level of economies of scale.

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In China the primary institutional shift was a set of reforms that allowed the rural companies to form alliances with the State-owned enterprises (SOEs), enabling the new corporate form to take advantage of a merger of cheap rural labor with high investments in new technology in the textile industry SOEs.

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It is estimated that the percentage of the total subsidies that the central government granted to textile SOEs rose from 1.61 % in 1990 to 20.57 % in 1998. (OECD, 2004).

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According to the USITC, the Chinese Textile industry in 2000, had 18,900 SOEs ◦ with a sales volume higher than 5 million Yuan; ◦ with total assets of 977,300 million Yuan, ◦ which generated tax revenue of 267,800 million

Yuan in value added taxes and ◦ which represented 11.9 %, 8.3 % and 11.3 %,

respectively, of the entire manufacturing industry. ◦ Employment in Textiles was around 13 million

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The global apparel industry has evolved substantially from its earliest form where the industry in the developing countries acted like subcontractors, where garment were sewn from imported inputs ready for assembly.

In the current market these operations are still found in simple non-competitive producers of homogenous apparel items.

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Slightly more sophisticated is a subcontracting process most commonly known as original equipment manufacturing (OEM).

The characteristics of this outsourcing operation include: ◦ the supplying firm making a product according to a

design specified by the buyer;◦ the product is sold under the buyer’s brand name; ◦ the supplier and buyer are separate firms; and ◦ the buyer lacks control over distribution.

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The most sophisticated upgrading of this outsourcing process is commonly referred to as Original brand name manufacturing (OBM) where the developing country apparel manufacturer begins to design their own end product and then sell it under their own brand name.

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The critical element in the apparel chain is the retailer.

In the United States in 1995, the five largest retailers–Wal-Mart, Sears, Kmart, Dayton Hudson Corporation and JC Penney–accounted for 68 per cent of all apparel sales.

Today two of these players Kmart and Sears are trying to survive their merger.

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Efficiency in managing the entire supply chain is required, including in design, fabric procurement, and logistical skills in transport, quality control, export financing and clearing of trade formalities.

The latter has become more of the Chinese model.

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