EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has said there is no risk of a shortage of Chinese clothes in the EU due to imports from the Asian giant piling up in EU ports.
'The idea that there are likely to be shortages and shelves going empty is rather far from the truth,' Mandelson told a news briefing. Scare stories of clothing shortages were not justified, he added.
Mandelson said he still had to formulate the proposal he would put to member states later today to unblock the Chinese garment imports held at EU ports.
EU officials have been negotiating with Chinese counterparts to find a way of easing restrictions on clothing imports that have overshot quotas drawn up earlier this year.
