Export Compliance Daily is a service of Warren Communications News.
Subscriber Login

CITA Announces it Will Impose Safeguard Quotas on China 338/339, 347/348 and 352/652 (Quotas Expected by End of May 2005)

May 16, 2005 |Top News

The Commerce Department has issued a press release stating that the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has made affirmative decisions of actual market disruption in the three self-initiated safeguard cases on China categories 338/339, 347/348, and 352/652. The 30-day comment period for these self-initiated cases ended recently, on May 9, 2005.

Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article

Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.

Start My Free Preview

Commerce also states that CITA has reached affirmative decisions in the three "threat of" market disruption investigations for these same categories. The comment period for these threat-based cases closed prior to December 30, 2004.

(From approximately December 30, 2004 - April 26, 2005, CITA had been preliminarily enjoined from acting on these, and other, threat-based petitions. See ITT's Online Archives or 05/09/05 news, 05050912 for BP summary on the lifting of this preliminary injunction.)

CITA Expected to Impose Safeguard Quotas on China Cats 338/339, 347/348 and 352/652 by End of May 2005

Commerce states that CITA will request consultations with China by the end of May 2005 in order to ease or avoid the market disruption caused by imports of China-origin apparel in categories 338/339, 347/348 and 352/652. At the same time, trades sources state that CITA will impose safeguard quotas for exports on or after the date consultations are requested.

According to Commerce, if consultations do not result in a mutually satisfactory agreement for these product categories from China within 90 days of the request for consultations, the safeguard quota(s) will remain in place through December 31, 2005.

CITA is Working to Quickly Make its "Threat" Decisions for China Cats 301, 340/640, 638/639, and 647/648

Commerce also indicates that CITA is working to complete its analysis of the facts at issue in four pending cases involving "threat of" market disruption for China categories 301, 340/640, 638/639 and 647/648, and will issue its decisions on the merits of those cases as expeditiously as possible.

Possible Levels if Safeguard Quotas Implemented in May, Monthly Import Numbers

Possible quota levels through December 31, 2005. Based on year-ending February 2005 (March 1, 2004 - February 28, 2005) official import data, plus 7.5%, the possible quota levels (prorated) from a date toward the end of May through December 31, 2005, for China categories 338/339, 347/348, and 352/652 could be approximately:

  1. 849,781 dozen for China 338/339
  2. 552,316 dozen for China 347/348, and
  3. 143, 398 dozen for China 352/652.

January - March 2005 average monthly imports. Average monthly imports (regardless of date of export) based on official Census import data to date (January - March 2005) for these categories have been as follows:

  1. 264,792 dozen per month, on average, for China 338/339
  2. 379,133 dozen per month, on average, for China 347/348, and
  3. 752,194 dozen per month, on average, for China 352/652.

March 2005 official monthly import data. The most recent month for which CITA has official Census data is for March 2005. Imports in March 2005 (regardless of date of export) for these merged categories are as follows:

  1. 394,949 dozen for China 338/339
  2. 109,299 dozen for China 347/348, and
  3. 881,337 dozen for China 352/652.

April 2005 preliminary monthly import data. The most recent month for which CITA has preliminary Census data is for April 2005. Preliminary imports for April 2005 (regardless of date of export) for these merged categories are as follows:

  1. 658,315 dozen for China 338/339
  2. 491,283 dozen for China 347/348
  3. 343,898 dozen for China 352/652

CITA Announcement on China 338/339, 347/348 and 352/652, dated 05/13/05, at http://www.commerce.gov/opa/press/Secretary_Gutierrez/2005_Releases/May/13_CITA.htm

Affected HTS numbers, and selected import statistics in 'data fact sheets', available under 'announcements' at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/