Exports of textiles and garments worldwide totaled US$61.5 billion in the first seven months of this year and rose at a much faster pace in June and July than in May, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its website.

China's global textile and garment makers sold 28 percent more products to overseas markets in June, compared with the same month a year before. In July, it sold 23 percent more, compared with May's growth of 19 percent, it said.

Chinese textile and garment makers are expected to secure a bigger share of Europe's market next year as the overall export environment improves with the implementation of an agreement signed between the economic powers in June that governs 10 textile goods exports, the trade regulator said in the statement.

China, the world's biggest textile and garment exporter, has been fending off threats of trade limits by the United States and European Union since the end of global quotas on the textile trade January 1 led to a surge in Chinese shipments abroad.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2005)