Turkey:

Textile & garment sector clocks consistent growth rates

The textile and garment industry of Turkey is clocking growth rates far beyond that of a lot of its peers and contemporaries countries across the globe. While on one hand countries like China and a few other countries which had delivered stupendous growth in 2007 are struggling hard to maintain those figures in face of mounting adversities, Turkey has managed to surmount the tribulations and exceed the pace of growth. The textile sector delivered a growth of 11.79 percent in the first seven months of 2008 corresponding to the same period in 2007. The sector is also responsible for contributing singlehandedly nearly 22 percent of all export revenues generated from the industrial sector for the country. Exports from the industry grew from US $13.85 billion in Jan-July 2007 to $15.49 billion in the comparable period of 2008. Ready made garments, the biggest revenue generator and accounting for 63.6 percent of all shipments from the sector closed the first seven months of 2008 with figures of $9.85 billion compared to $9.06 billion in the same period of 2007 thereby, clocking a growth rate of 8.7 percent. Exports of textiles and its allied products like yarns, fabrics etc, posted revenues of $4.27 billion in the first seven months of this year compared to $3.67 billion in the same period in 2007 to record an amazing 16.3 percent growth and garner a share of 27.6 percent of all shipments from the sector. Leather and its products posted export revenues of $731.43 million corresponding to $629.59 million to generate growth rates comparable with that of textiles. Carpet was one sector which also delivered growth rate at an astonishing 29.3 percent. Shipments from the sector in the period under consideration grew to $637.69 million from $493.28 million. Leather and carpets contributed 4.7 and 4.1 percent respectively to the export basket from the industry. At the same time for the month of July08, total figures of exports from the sector rose to $2.30 billion from $2.14 billion in July07 to post a growth of 7.64 percent. Comparable figures of exports of RMG are $1.51 billion and $1.43 billion for a growth of 5.1 percent, textiles $569.79 million and $498.61 million, Leather $129.79 million and $123.70 million and finally carpets grew to $94.82 million from $81.71 million, corresponding to the months of July08 and July07. Textiles, leather and carpets registered growth figures of 14.3, 4.9 and 16.1 percent respectively for the period under preview. The overall industrial exports, encompassing all products, rose from $51.07 billion in the first seven months of the previous year to $70.15 billion of the corresponding period of the current year to witness a growth of a flabbergasting 37.4 percent. Looking at the exponential pace of growth, the textile and garment sector is all set to crown itself in glory and very likely to cross the targets set for the year 2008.

Philippines:

Textile & garment sector posts positive balance of trade

Irrespective of sluggish exports delivered by the textile and garment industry of Philippines, the one silver lining that is brought forth is the consistent positive trade balance the sector has managed to record over the last several years. The sector posted a positive trade balance in 2002 amounting to US $1597.95 and also closed 2007 with a net $1,631.91 million. Exports though have more or less seen a stagnant growth in the last six years. The figures either indicate a dip or growth for each of the six consecutive years from 2002-2007. Cumulative export figures for the industry as a whole touched just $2,866.01 million in 2007 compared to $2,746.31 million in 2002 to register a gain of just 4.36 percent in six years. While garment exports stood at $2,526.23 million (FOB) in 2002, it slipped to $2,416.06 million in 2003 and further dipped to $2,312.93 million in 2004. The trend was reversed in the next two years when exports once again registered growth to reach $2,473.91 million in 2005 and $2,775.57 million in 2006. 2007, once again turned out to be a watershed year for exports of garments, which again witnessed a negative growth compared to 2006, and saw revenues from garment exports slide to $2,646.36 million and shed the gains made in 2006. In the period between 2002 and 2007 garment exports grew by a marginal 4.75 percent and fell by 4.9 percent in contrast to 2006. Textile exports, compromising of yarns, fabrics and other products also did not fare better.