Whether this will ever translate into growth in apparel exports may be beside the point.

Chinese textile and apparel exports began climbing sharply then, and an increase of 7.5 percent now would come on top of gains that occurred in 2002.

The European Union remains the largest regional destination - Bangladesh exported US$5.36 billion in apparel; 50% of their total apparel exports.

China has warned that it will resist any attempt to limit its textile and apparel exports.

For example, Administration officials, under pressure from textile states, might favor dropping the ambitious effort to eliminate industrial-world barriers to third-world apparel exports.

Over the last decade, its apparel exports have risen almost tenfold, to $450 million last year.

China said Friday that it would raise its tariffs on many textile and apparel exports, in the hope of easing trade frictions with the United States and Europe.

Chinese textile and apparel exports have captured the greatest attention over the last year, mainly because China agreed to special rules when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

He was also a Fulbright scholar at the Institute of Policy Studies in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he studied apparel exports.

The value of their exports, at $150 million per year, comprised half of all Guatemalan apparel exports.