International Trade in Textiles with Special Reference to South Asia

This study has been primarily concerned with the issues and perspectives on the historical evolution and working of the arrangements governing international trade in “textiles”, particularly the last such arrangement, popularly called Multi Fibre Agreement (MFA). While the problems of both the developed and the developing countries in the field of world trade in textiles and their implications for structural changes in the pattern of a more rational international division of labour have been discussed, special attention has been paid to the problems of the developing “textile” exporting countries with special reference to the Southeast Asian countries. The study is divided into seven main sections. Section I provides an introduction and the approach adopted by this study. As a background to the problems to be studied, Section II highlights some recent trends in the growth of world textiles and clothing industries especially during the period 1970-75. Section III presents the historical evolution of the arrangements governing international trade in “textiles”. The main features of design and organisational aspects of the MFA (especially the Textiles Surveillance Body) are discussed in Section IV. Section V provides an appraisal of the working of MFA. Section VI outlines a few suggestions for renegotiating the MFA which expired on December 31, 1977. The question of the desirability of the extension of the MFA approach to some other sectors is examined in Section VII. And summary & Conclusions of the Study are presented in Section VIII. A post-script contains some quick comments on the nature of the MFA which has been extended for the next four years.