Beijing, Sept. 13 -- China's textile and apparel industry is showing signs of further contraction, with around 1,500 companies estimated to have exited the regime's official industrial-enterprise statistics during the first half of this year, according to a report by The Epoch Times (TET).

Data cited by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Textiles showed that the number of textile companies classified as "above-scale" declined by 389 from a year earlier to 20,806 between January and May. Over the same period, the number of "above-scale" companies in the textile, clothing and apparel sectors fell by around 1,101. Industry organisations estimate that approximately 1,490 companies across the two categories had exited the statistical pool by th...