1、 1 The Changing World Network of Trade in Textiles and Apparel Thomas Vollrath， Mark Gehlhar， Stephen MacDonald U.S.A. http:/www.ers.usda.gov/amberwaves Thomas Vollrath, thomasvers.usda.gov Mark Gehlhar, mgehlharers.usda.gov Stephen MacDonald, stephenmers.usda.gov The structure of the global textile
2、 market is fundamentally changing in response to policy reforms stemming from the 1995 Uruguay Round (UR) of the World Trade Organization. The UR instituted agreements to reduce tariffs on textile and apparel products to levels closer to those found elsewhere in manufacturing. It also established th
3、e Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), which stipulates that all bilateral import quotas, sanctioned under the 1974 Multi-Fiber Arrangement (MFA), will be eliminated by 2005.Full implementation of the UR reforms will bring textiles and apparel into greater conformity with internationally accept
4、ed rules of trade. Collectively, these reforms should stimulate growth in textile trade, which already outpaces trade in other sectors of the world economy. For example, trade in textiles and apparel in the last decade nearly doubled to $334 billion. These reforms also promise to significantly alter
5、 the location of production and the direction of fiber and textile trade. The Bilateral Fiber and Textile Trade database, available on the ERS website (www.ers.usda.gov/data/fibertextiletrade/), enables analysts to examine the evolving structure of trade among partners and across commodities and pro
6、ducts in the global market. This database, derived from UN Comtrade data, contains information about commodity and product trade flows among exporting and importing countries/regions between 1992 and 2002. The global network of trade in textiles and apparel has shifted significantly, with many low-i
7、ncome countries benefiting from higher sales within the past 2 decade. Unlike agricultural production, which depends on the availability of natural resources, the location of textile and, particularly, apparel production is highly mobile and extremely responsive to wage differentials. Textile and ap
8、parel production requires substantial labor, is not technologically demanding, and provides employment opportunities for the relatively unskilled laborers who transfer out of subsistence agriculture. It introduces workers to manufacturing and provides them with training opportunities in new and productivity-enhancing activities. 3
