Employees of a clothing manufacturer in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province sort through garments for export on Monday. Despite a recovery seen in the overall export climate, local export-oriented textile firms have recently shifted to short-term orders instead of longer-term orders, as the continued yuan appreciation and fluctuations in raw material prices make them more vulnerable to risks associated with longer-term orders. In the first four months, China's garment exports totaled $47.94 billion, an increase of 20 percent year-on-year, according to customs data. Photo: IC