Skirts

China's booming T-shirt and polo-shirt industry is poised for more than 30 percent export sales growth in 2006. At US$3.3 billion, exports in the first nine months of 2005 already surpass 2004 shipments of US$3.2 billion. By the end of this year, exports are expected to cross the US$4 billion mark. Japan is China's largest export market, absorbing close to US$2.5 billion worth of T-shirts and polo-shirts from January 2004 to September 2005. South Korea and Australia are second and third, importing US$447 million and US$361 million worth, respectively, in the same period. The garment and textile quotas that have been in place since 1974 limit exports to the United States and the European Union. The US is currently China's fourth largest importer, absorbing some US$268 million worth in the same 21-month span, while exports to the EU amounted to US$559 million.