he China Textile Economy Research Center (CTERC) has released its latest survey on the textile sector's "state of health", which revealed total sales in January through May 2007 increased 24.3 percent; but more importantly, profits rose 43.85 percent to 39.193 billion yuan. These statistics are rather surprising, given the rising costs in China, but apparently reflect the textile sector's success in raising the average export price. Both exports and domestic apparel retail sales have shown strong growth in 2007. The textile sector continues to attract new investors, with fixed asset management in textiles, apparel and headwear increasing 26.29 percent in January through July to a record 135.595 billion yuan.