Ramzi Gabai : Chinese textile is flooding the Israeli market

Ramzi Gabai, who chairs the textiles industries division of the Manufacturers Association and who himself is a veteran chief executive officer of Ofis Textiles, pointed out last week that in the first three months of 2005 Chinese textile producers shipped twenty millions items of textile valued over $88 millions.
 
Gabai noted that the figures for the first three months represent an increase of 25% compared to the same period last year. Gabai added that the Chinese textile "dumping" has affected not only Israel but also the USA and the EU. In the first three months of 2005 china's textile exports to the EU increased by 73% and reached $2.7 billions.
 
However, despite the huge Chinese exports to international markets, Gabai believes that there are still niche markets which can be nicely exploited by the Israeli textile producers. Gabai called upon the government and the labor minister to act quickly to find ways and means to assist the textile industry in the face of the Chinese mounting pressure.