BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese textile producers are adjusting their development strategies after the United States said Wednesday it would impose new limits on imports of clothing from China.

    Wednesday's announcement was the second time in five days that Washington imposed such quotas, acting on complaints that a surge of Chinese apparel was hurting U.S. companies.

    The new batch of Chinese goods facing restrictions are men's and boy's cotton and man-made fiber shirts; man-made fiber trousers; man-made fiber knit shirts and blouses; and combed cotton yarn.

    Shipments of Chinese textiles and apparel to the U.S. have surged since the end of global quotas Jan.1.

    On Friday, the United States said it was re-imposing quotas on three categories of clothing imports from China, including cotton trousers, cotton knit shirts and underwear.

    It was not clear how many Chinese textile companies would be affected, and many businessmen in Zhejiang, China's famous textile production province, were highly concerned.

    "We are discussing the latest situation," said Han Licheng, secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Clothing Association, "Two textile magnates have rushed to my office for a closed-door discussion after the United States declared its decision."

    In Wenzhou, a booming business center in Zhejiang, about one third of local enterprises are engaged in textile exports, of which one third target European countries and the United States, said Ni Xueshan, director of the cotton textile branch of the Wenzhou Clothing Chamber.

    Ni believed the US quotas will have two direct results.

    Some Chinese enterprises will first export the textiles to a third country to evade the quotas, not only increasing Chinese companies' cost, but also making US investors, retailers and consumers pay more, he said.

    The new quotas might bring great pressure to the Chinese domestic textile industry and some small companies will face closedowns, triggering more unemployment, he said.

    The bad news had wings at Zhili, a township famous for the children apparel, in Huzhou, a city in Zhejiang Province, soon after it was declared. The township is home to 5,700-plus children apparel enterprises, about 21 percent of the domestic market.

    The township reported an annual production of 150 million pieces (suits) and an annual production value of 3.5 billion yuan (421,69 million US dollars).

    Since April this year, less foreign businessmen have come to the town for business talks and many local businessmen were nervous about phone calls, praying they were not bringing order cancellations, said Jiang Guoliang, a manager with the Wobao Children Apparel Company.

    "It's of no use blaming the quotas or praying, the situation has already changed and the only thing we can do is to adjust strategies to minimize the impacts the quotas will bring to us," said Jin Changyi, general manager of the Jinqiu (Golden Globe) Textile Company in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province.

    His company exported about 300,000 to 400,000 pieces of cotton and silk clothes each year, including 50,000 pieces to the United States, most of which were children's clothes.

    "From the beginning of the year, we have received fewer orders from Europe and the United States. The US quotas have brought us difficulties," Jin said.

    Some enterprises are planning to enlarge markets in the Middle East and the America and increase the share of silk products exports.

    Many companies are considering improving the quality instead of the quantity of their products.

    "When blaming the United States' unfair trade principles, we should learn to win both domestic and overseas markets. Our company will not abandon our exports, worth of 20 to 30 million of US dollars each year, and meanwhile the overseas business partners will not let us go easily for our reliable quality and prices," said Xu Zhongping, sales manager of the Qiuyinong Company Limited in Hangzhou.

    "China's enterprises should not only focus on quantity, but also work hard to improve quality," he said. Enditem