Apparel makers in China are shifting their focus on domestic market owing to sluggish overseas demand, according to statistics released by China National Textile & Apparel Council (CNTAC). According to the data, sales of Chinese apparel manufacturing firms in domestic market have risen sharply during the first nine months of the current year, while China's garment exports have grown only marginally by 1.35 percent year-on-year to US$ 116.79 billion during the same period, Xinhua reported. Chinese clothing manufacturers flourished in the past entirely based on their exports. However, these producers are now facing difficulty due to intensified competition, sluggish demand in western countries, and trade frictions. In such a scenario, tapping domestic market is a viable alternative for Chinese garment manufacturers. According to a survey conducted by CNTAC on 614 apparel manufacturers, around 93 percent of their turnover came from domestic market in 2011. The surge in domestic garment sales can be understood from the fact that they have grown from around 700 billion yuan in 2005 to over 1.4 trillion yuan in 2011.
