Portuguese Jan textile & apparel exports best in 12 years

14 Mar '14

2 min read

January 2014 turned out to be the best month in the last 12 years for the Portuguese textile and apparel exports, which grew by 14 percent year-on-year to €411 million, Textile and Apparel Association of Portugal (ATP) said.

Exports from Portugal increased in all product categories, with exports of knitted garments growing at 18 percent year-on-year and exports of fabric increasing by 14 percent, the ATP said in a statement.

The exports of made-up textile articles, including home textiles, recorded a growth of 7 percent year-on-year, in January 2014.

The exports of textile raw materials from Portugal increased by 10 percent year-on-year, of which, the exports of synthetic or man-made fibres grew 19 percent, of special and tufted fabrics by about 17 percent, and of impregnated, coated or covered and other textiles for technical textiles by 11 percent, during the month.

Portugal’s textile and apparel exports to the EU rose by 16 percent year-on-year, with some countries showing remarkable growth, especially Austria, Poland and France where exports grew by 40.3 percent year-on-year, 36.6 percent and 29.2 percent, respectively.

According to the ATP statement, Portugal’s textile and garment exports to Denmark, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany also increased by 22.1 percent year-on-year, 21.4 percent, 20.2 percent, 18.9 percent, 15.2 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively.

In addition, Portuguese textile and clothing exports to Angola and China soared by 78 percent year-on-year and 44 percent, respectively, the statement said.

John Costa, president of ATP, expressed optimism that the strong growth seen in January would lead to another year of growth in 2014.

In 2013, Portuguese textile and garment exports increased by 3.5 percent year-on-year to € 4.3 billion.

The Portuguese textile and apparel sector accounts for about 155,000 direct jobs.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Textiles News - Portugal...