Wal-mart, Metro, Carrefour and 8,000 other bigname international buyers are expected to arrive in Shanghai, China's largest metropolis, next month to hunt for Chinese textile products and garments.

They will be guests of the 2005 Autumn International Apparel Fair, scheduled for September 12-14, said Tian Hao, managing director of the Shanghai Mart, which is to co-sponsor the event with the Dallas Market Center (DMC) of the United States.

The fair will be held simultaneously with a high-level forum on hot issues in terms of transnational garment purchase and the trend of the trade.

The forum will also feature insiders' analysis on transnational textile procurement, including a speech by Thomas Burns, vice-president of Doneger Group, one of the largest apparel buying and sourcing companies in the United States, Tian said.

"Despite ongoing trade rows over China's textile exports, global buyers have remained enthusiastic in Chinese products. Contacts among non-governmental organs have kept continuing," said Xie Zhen, general manager of the Shanghai International Merchandising Center.

Amid escalating tension over China's textile exports in May, some 150 textile buyers from the United States and Europe visited China, hoping to expand cooperation with domestic suppliers.

The immense business opportunities brought by an open Chinese market will ultimately outweigh the short-term benefits of resumption of export quotas on Chinese textiles, said Claude Tetard, president of French textile association, during his recent inspection tour to Shanghai.

"Restrictions on Chinese textiles cannot reverse the inevitable trend of global trade integration, nor will they discourage worldwide buyers from buying cost-effective Chinese products," said Tian Hao, managing director of Shanghai Mart.

Tian's company, Asia's leading wholesale marketplace, hosts year-round buying events for purchasers from both home and abroad.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2005)