China's textile and garment exports have shown signs of recovery from a record 14-month-long decline, Business Weekly (China Daily) on January 23 quoted an official with the State Textile Bureau as saying.

"China's textile and garment have turned away from a headlong decrease," said Wang Lie, deputy director of the industry administration department of the State Textile Bureau.

Exports were valued at 38.857 billion US dollars during the first 11 months of 1999, the same compared to the same period of 1998. Of the exports, textiles contributed 11.73 billion dollars, up 1.68 percent from the same period of 1998.

Garment exports, valued at 27.13 billion dollars, declined by 0.8 percent on a year-on-year basis, he said.

"China's textile and garment exports have already shown sign ofrecovery from the severe setback the industries experienced beginning in the middle of 1998," Wang said.

He attributed the recovery sign to a stronger international export market and the central government's policy support.

The fact that textile companies have enhanced their competitiveness by doing away with surplus production capacity andby laying off redundant workers also contributed to the good signsof recovery.

China became the world's largest textile and garment exporter in 1994.

In 1996, the country witnessed its first export decline in 10 years.

Negatively influenced by Southeast Asia's financial crisis, China's textile and garment exports experienced a continuous 14-month, 21 percent decrease from May 1998 to June 1999.