Newsletter: August 2002
Chinese
Textile and Apparel Hit Industry
Illegal Imports Cost Nepal Textile Industry $76m A Year
Smugglers
flooding the market with cheap textiles from India and Chinese-administered
Tibet are costing Nepal six billion rupees ($76 million) a year in lost
revenues, as well as closures and lay-offs affecting three-quarters of the
country's industry.
Over 75% of the industries have either voluntarily closed or are preparing to shut down as the smuggled textiles are much cheaper than the domestically produced goods. Some 300 million meters (one billion feet) of textiles were brought into Nepal each year, but only one-sixth of this was recorded for customs tariffs. Not only are textiles from India and Tibet significantly cheaper than those made domestically, but a bilateral trade treaty renewed earlier this year states Nepal must give concession duty rates to Indian products.
Investments
of around 15 billion rupees ($192 million) over the past two decades have
failed to halt the decline of the industry, which employs 700,000 workers.
In the mid-1990s, the kingdom produced 80 million metres of textiles but
this has now fallen to 20 million metres.
More
than 75%
of Nepal's textile industries - including what was the largest, Butwal -
have since shut down, and the remaining 25 businesses are incurring losses.
Mexican
Clothing Industry Troubled by Illegal Chinese Imports
Illegal Chinese clothing imports are the second main cause for concern amongst the Mexican industry, after worries about the US economic recession.
According
to Antonio Juan Marcos Villarreal, president of the National Clothing
Industry Chamber (Canaiv), around 80 tons of garment from China were seized
and burnt recently in the area of La Laguna, Coahuila. Various industrialists in the textile
sector are being affected by the entry of large amounts of clothes, which
has forced the government and Canaiv to start promotional plans.
