Guntis Strazds, president of Latvia's Association of Textile Industry Enterprises, says the last 10 years have been difficult for the textile industry and clothing producers.
Many previously strong enterprises, like the textile factories Rigas Audums and Rigas Tekstils, or sock and tight producer Aurora, have closed down.
Still, the niche once occupied by them on the vast former Soviet market is now taken by new, smaller manufacturers. Small- and medium-sized enterprises have turned out to be better at adjusting to the principles of market economy.
Roughly 70 light industry enterprises currently operate in Latvia. Eighteen of them have reached annual turnovers as high as 1 million lats ($1.67 million) each, while others work in the boundaries between 100,000 lats and 1 million lats.
Lingerie producer Lauma and knitwear plant Ogre are the biggest enterprises in the branch having retained their integrity due to the specific needs of their production process ranging from making yarn up to the end product - ready-made clothes.
For other textile manufacturers, like Rigas Manu-fak-tura, Juglas Manufaktura, divisions and privatization were the necessary preconditions for further operation.
To characterize the current output in Latvia's textile industry, it is hard to pick a constant evaluation criteria. It would be wrong to simply state that the output of cotton fabric has grown over the last three years. In comparison to 1997 growth has reached 158 percent or 2.5 times: 8 million meters of fabric instead of 3 million. In 1990 this amount was equal to the output of two months.
Over 1998, Latvian manufacturers made roughly 5 million pieces of knitwear which is only half of the yearly 9 million items recorded during the industry's "good times". In addition, the textile industry's annual balance accounts for 3.4 million pieces of knit lingerie and 20 million pairs of socks. Strazds admitted that the output of tights strongly varies from year to year ranging from 15 million to 34 million pairs.
As for textile clothes, there is the opposite tendency - the output of women's ware has increased several times compared to 1996.
The total 1998 turnover in the textile industry exceeded 170 million lats which is by 10 million more than in 1997.
The role of the textile industry in Latvia's economy is also proved by the fact that it is one of the strongest branches of export coming as the second largest after the export of round timber. The total amount of textile products exported in 1997 was worth more than 151 million lats to reach 160 million last year. Taking into account that the total volume of Latvia's export in 1997 accounted for 990 million lats, this light industry made up one-sixth of the total export balance.
As little as 5 percent of textile products remain for local consumption, the rest of it goes for export. Most of the export - 70 percent - goes to EU countries. The second largest market traditionally has been the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Russia. However, as a result of the recent economic crisis in the region, textile exports have decreased considerably.
There is another problem that should be touched upon: Only in very few cases the products manufactured in Latvia reach the foreign markets with Latvian labels. In most cases the items are sold under foreign company trade marks. When asked whether it causes any feeling of discomfort, head of the production department of one of the Latvian enterprises answered with a very definite "no". These "strange plumes" allow for the enterprises to continue operations, provide jobs and make profits, which is not always possible when working for the local market.
Roughly 24,000 people are employed by textile- industry enterprises. In the early 1990s the number was 40,000.
Also, the number of engineers active in the manufacturing enterprises has gone down. The enterprises in Latvia try to comply with international norms which require that 15,000 lats' to 20,000 lats' worth of products should be made per one employee.
According to Strazds, manufacturers like Lauma, Kokvilna, Juglas Manufaktura, Rimako, and Rosme reach 11,000 lats to 12,000 lats, a production level considered sufficient in view of the technical capacity within the sector.
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