More than 3,000 textile companies have been selected to share in 18 percent of China's textile export quotas to the European Union next year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

It is the result of the first online bidding for next year's quotas set by the European Union, which started on Tuesday and finished on Friday.

Of the total of 5,284 companies that bid, 3,385 won contracts.

The bidding move was made upon the request of many textile manufacturers in China for a more transparent and fairer process. It will also help better manage exporters' performance.

Another 12 percent of the total quotas will go through the bidding process next time.

A special committee under the ministry has been set up to take charge of bid invitations.

The majority of the export quotas, 70 percent, are allocated based on textile dealers' shipments from the previous year.

The partial bid process is aimed at preventing a repeat of last month's stockpile fiasco.

Up to 80 million garments started piling up in European warehouses and customs checkpoints after Chinese companies used up their quotas.

Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson had to sign another agreement in Beijing on September 5 to allow the release of the Chinese garments. After a 10-hour closed-door discussion in Shanghai in May, the two sides reached a consensus to set the export quotas until 2007.

In another development, China announced low-tariff import quotas for sugar at 1.945 million tons for 2006 the same as 2005 as part of its commitment as a member of the World Trade Organization.

The state-owned firms would hold 70 per cent of the import quotas while 30 per cent would be issued to private firms, the Commerce Ministry said.

Import quotas for wool were set at 287,000 tons for 2006, the ministry said.

(China Daily October 2, 2005)