BRITISH retailers are facing a shortage of cheap trousers this winter after a quota imposed on Chinese imports came close to being used up yesterday.

Provisional European Union data showed 100 per cent of the recently introduced 2005 quota for Chinese-made trousers of wool, cotton or man-made fibres — equivalent to more than 104 million pairs — had been reached by the afternoon.

Last month, import licences on jumpers entering the EU from China were suspended after a quota was breached.

Officials were forced to thrash out a deal after a mountain of goods began to pile up en route from China. A compromise, in which retailers are being allowed to use a portion of next year’s quota to cover imports of jumpers for the autumn season, is still awaiting final approval from China.

One leading retailer said: “The EU has completely fouled things up. They announced one thing and then changed their minds twice. There are major issues in several categories for a lot of retailers.”

Brussels and Beijing agreed limits for Chinese exports on a list of six types of clothing after a massive surge in trade followed the abolition of a long-standing quotas system at the beginning of this year.

Several retailers told The Times that already they had put plans in place to source goods affected by the quota imposition from elsewhere to prevent gaps on their show rails.

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