The uncertainty lingering over Sino-US textile disputes has imposed a negative impact on bilateral trade in the textile and garment sector, English-language newspaper China Daily said on Tuesday.

The report said contracted garment exports at the 98th China Export Commodities Fair (CECF), which concluded on Sunday in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, stood at 2.5 billion US dollars, down 13.8 percent from the 96th session last Autumn, citing statistics published by China's Ministry of Commerce.

Contracted textile exports reached 2.2 billion US dollars, up 2.2 percent from last Autumn.

However, US visitors to the textile section declined sharply and contracts with US buyers dropped 38.3 percent from the 96th session.

Cao Xinyu, vice-chairman of China's Chamber of Commerce for the import and Export of Textiles, said the unclear prospects of Sino-US textile conflicts were to blame for the decline.

"There are far fewer US visitors than expected because of the trade frictions," he said.

As China and the United States failed to settle frictions, both importers and exporters are cautious about marking orders in the next session of the CECF, the largest export exhibition of China.

"We had no visitors from the United States and only a few from the European Union," said Xu Huimin, an official with Weihai Jiaobo Trading Co Ltd, a company in East China's Shandong Province, which specializes in manufacturing pyjamas.

She said it is a big blow to the company's exports for next year as both are major markets of the company.

Peter Goldman, president with Philadelphia Rapid Transit, said he only placed orders on unrestricted categories in this session and only to old suppliers.

"The contracts we signed declined some 50 percent from last year," he said.

"I have come here to collect information and establish relations," said David Orens, one of the few US visitors to visit the textile exhibition hall. He placed no orders whatsoever.

The Chinese Export Commodities Fair, a biannual event launched in 1957, is dubbed the bellwether of the country's foreign trade.

Source: Xinhua