Page 88 - Ekonomija i Biznis_May 2016.indd

Economic chamber od Macedonia

bsi. ISO years
9001
1922 - 2016
Quality
Management

СТОПАНСКА КОМОРА НА МАКЕДОНИЈАFS549642

Osnovana 1922

ECONOMIC CHAMBER OF MACEDONIA

Founded 1922

IT IS HIGH TIME FOR TEXTILE COMPANIES TO

START MANUFACTURING THEIR OWN BRAND

By: Saso Despotoski

The main purpose of the Textile MY OPINION
Industry Strategy, adopted back
in 2007, was to create conditions
for sustainable development of
the textile sector. Of course,
this document is the basis for a
development program with a set
of measures targeting the textile
industry. At the moment, a series
of steps and activities need to be
taken in order to put an end to the
persistently negative developments
and enable long-term positive
changes to set in. These should
be both short-term and long-term
plans.

Let us look at some figures, whose message is quite obvious. The past few years
have seen the output of Macedonia’s textile industry grow continuously, leading
to higher exports. Macedonia cashes in foreign currency inflows of about USD
600 to 700 million from the textile industry every year, which is 16% to 18%
of the country’s total exports. Textile businesses employ between 37,000 and
40,000 people, which is about 40% of the total number of people employed in the
manufacturing sector.

One positive thing is that Macedonian foreign partners still find Macedonian
textile companies interesting. This is mostly due to the proximity of the
European market and the output of small quantities of high-quality products
at a good price. To maintain this trend in the upcoming period, bearing in mind
the competition coming from textile companies located in the region - mostly

88 May 2016