South Africa said on Thursday that it would delay imposing planned quotas on Chinese clothing and textile imports from September 28 to January 1, 2007.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said in a statement that the government made the decision to take retailer concerns into account.
"This concession is offered in a spirit of promoting strategic dialogues and cooperation among all the stakeholders in the interest of boosting the sector and safeguarding employment," the department said. It said: "A later implementation date will allow the customary high level of business over the Christmas period to proceed without interruption."
The government said that the decision followed extensive talks with all stakeholders, and took into account concerns over domestic supply and quota allocation issues.
"The parties agreed a delay of implementation will go some way to enable all the players in the value chain to put in place arrangements to enable the industry to adjust to the restrictions and take advantage of the resulting opportunities," it said.
The department said the authorities administering the quotas would issue companies with import permits at least six weeks before the January 1 implementation date.
