BEIJING, Aug. 29(Xinhuanet)-- Soaring domestic consumption in China has driven the textile industry into its best period, said Du Yuzhou, president of the China National Federation of Textile Industries.

The growth of China's clothing demand hit a historical high of 21.6 percent year on year from January to June, which is much higher than the average annual growth of 12.56 percent from 2000 to 2004.

"Undoubtedly, booming domestic consumption has triggered textile demand not only in the domestic market but also in the global market," Du said.

The comprehensive capacity of China's textile industry is undergoing all-out progress after years of rapid growth, Du said, noting that the advantages of Chinese textile products lie in cultural factors, their improved technology and sales technique, as well as their low prices.

Domestic demand, rather than exports, has been the key engine ofthe textile industry. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that the sales volume of the industry grew 26.78 percent inthe first six months year to year, 4.7 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the export volume.

"With 1.3 billion consumers, domestic demand is the source of the stable growth of China's clothes production," Du said.

Competition among domestic clothing brands has spread, and demand for household textile products is also increasing, he said.

As for the report that the"supply of 86.9 percent textile products exceeds their demand", Du said oversupply is an inevitable feature of a highly-competitive industry, and the situation of short supply will never come again.

"We should look into the comprehensive capacity of the industry, instead of merely the volume of end products," He said.

According to him, the textile industry in China has been restructuring and upgrading ever since the 1990s. The textile products have been especially competitive since 2000 after the industry underwent large scale technological reform and introduced foreign capital and brands.

Upgrading and products restructuring should persist, and are also the best way for the industry to stand the double pressure of trade disputes and Renminbi appreciation, he said. Enditem