The state textile industry made 800 million yuan in profit in 1999 after reducing a total of 9.06 million spindles and laying off 1.16 million workers for the past few years.

The industry had been losing money for six consecutive years.

Premier Zhu Rongji praised the industry for its continuing efforts to restructure the industry and for winning the initial success.

At a national textile industry conference today, Du Yuzhou, head of the State Administration of Textile Industry, said that the industry is still overstaffed and has outdated technology.

Du said that the industry will increase spending on research and development to improve its competitive edge on the world market.