The value of textiles and clothing exported via the port of Nantong, Jiangsu province, eastern China, in the first quarter of 2006 stood at $290 mln (240 mln euro), up 18.9 pct year-on-year, the Nantong Import and Export Inspection and Quarantine Bureau said.

Exports of textiles totalled 41.13 million metres in the three-month period, up 25.2 pct year-on-year. Exports of clothing stood at 35.24 million items, up 11.6 pct year-on-year.

The exports headed mainly to Japan, the EU, the USA, South Korea and Singapore.

The year-on-year increase reported in the first three months of 2006 was lower than the increase in the first quarter of 2005 because of the introduction of export quotas on Chinese textile exports to the EU and the USA. The quotas were negotiated between China and the EU and the USA in the second half of 2005.