China's textile and clothing sales were not affected by US and EU quotas in 2006, the WTO confirmed while releasing its preliminary data on global trade. Major trends in textile trade stayed unchanged to the benefit of poorest Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam. Share of processing trade is on the decline to the detriment of US and EU textile producers.

Quotas that were re-imposed on China's products had no radical effect on global textile and clothing trade said the WTO (World Trade Organisation). While releasing a first look at last year's main trends in global trade, the Geneva's body said that "structural changes in world trade of textiles and clothing continued unabatedly.

EU and US quotas apparently limited the growth in textiles and apparel imports from China that were only up 15% and 10% in US$ terms, respectively. Imports of Chinese products by Canada only rose 22% at the same time, although Ottawa did not re-impose quotas.

Bangladesh benefited from a 22% jump in US textile and apparel imports from the country while EU imports were even up 34% from the same origin. European imports from Vietnam even surged 51% in US$ terms. Cambodia and Indonesia also took advantage of a strong rise in shipments to both EU and US markets.