Locals look to break into Canadian textile market

Lithuanian textile industry leaders recently returned from Canada, where they scouted new markets for one of Lithuania's most important exports.

The May 27-30 trip was designed to establish contacts with Canadian importers.

Lithuania currently ships roughly 90 percent of its textile production out of the country, mainly to European markets. Germany and Scandinavia are presently the largest exporters, while just a fraction of the textiles presently leave Lithuania bound for Canada, which has a population of about 27 million.

Linas Lasiauskas, deputy director of the Lithuanian Textile and Apparel Manufacturers Asso-ciation, headed the delegation.

"There is real potential here for textile manufacturers," he said. "We have already opened the doors to other similar markets such as the United States and Japan and been successful, so Canada seems like the natural next step right now."

Lasiauskas says that Lithua-nian textile companies have what it takes to catch the eye of Canadi-ans but stressed that there is still a lot to learn.

"The Canadian market is definitely different than others such as the United States," he said. "I have to admit that I expected Canada to be just like the United States when I arrived here but it's not.

"People have different tastes for fashion, and we need to learn what these are. Establishing and utilizing contacts here will of course help," he said.

Sigita Muleviciene, first secretary with the Lithuanian Embassy, added that the Canadian companies at the meetings in Montreal and Toronto were im-pressed with what Lithuania has to offer.

"The remarks from people were quite good," she said. "They were especially happy with the quality of the products."

Through the meetings, which were organized by both the Lithuanian Embassy and Lithua-nian Textile and Apparel Manu-facturers Association, Lithuanian companies such as fine linen producer Siulas and apparel producer and retailer Utenos Trikotazas met with major Canadian companies like Becker Fashions, Sportswear Canada and even the Royal Ca-nadian Mounted Police.

Another Canadian to have ma-de her acquaintance with the delegation was Lydia Karamaoun, project manager with TFCO Canada. Her organization assists developing and transition economies that want to export to Canada.

"They have good companies with a quality product and experience," Karamaoun said. "With all this and a willingness to learn the market they should really be successful."

In her meetings, Karamaoun stressed the competitiveness and complexity of the Canadian textile market, the need to learn it and the importance of maintaining good contacts with buyers.

She hopes that Lithuanian companies will know what they're good at and stick to their strengths.

"There is a lot of potential in the price range they're offering for (the products) they excel in, but I don't believe they would be able to compete in certain areas, like T-shirts," she points out.

That sector of the market is dominated by Asian firms with very low operating costs.

According to Lasiauskas, Lit-huanian companies understand the market's dynamics.

"We are aiming to distribute midpriced, high-quality products," he said.

Lasiauskas is also quick to note that exporting comes naturally to textile manufacturers in Lithua-nia.

"This industry was built to supply the Soviet Union," he said. "So with such a large capacity and a small domestic market after independence, exporting seemed logical."

Both Lasiauskas and Mule-viciene are hoping that further missions will be arranged soon. The Canadian Embassy is planning to distribute more information to companies on the benefits of buying Lithuanian.

They also hope that Canadian companies will be in Lithuania this fall when Vilnius hosts the Baltic Textile and Leather Trade Show on Sept. 11-14.