The Spanish Intertextile Council earns of the effects of the liberalization of the sector on employment

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Employment in the textile sector is threatened by the prospects for 2010. Imports of products from China and India may reduce current employment by half. The employers of the textile sector are in favour of the Pan-Mediterranean Area.

On 18 October the Spanish Intertextile Council (Consejo Intertextil Español, ICE) assessed the 'Report of the European Parliament on Prospects for trade relations between the EU and China', presented by Caroline Lucas. The liberalisation of imports from China, India and Turkey, will have a great impact in Spain, where the ICE estimates that 115,000 jobs will be lost between now and 2010. Only between January and July 2005, Spanish imports from these three countries increased by 45, 37 and 16% respectively. According to Adriá Serra, Chairman of the Intertextile Council, the current number of jobs in the sector, 215,000, will be halved.

The Spanish textile sector is formed by 6,330 companies, contributes 4.8% of the GDP and represents 5% of Spanish exports—approximately EUR 6,500 million per year. For some time the liberalisation has been causing a decrease in production. According to the ICE’s figures, production fell by 11% in the first half of this year, which represents a loss of 20,000 jobs, a 15% decrease in imports of capital goods, a 2% fall in exports, and an 8% fall in the number of contributors to the social security system. Imports from Europe currently represent 45%, followed by imports from Asia (34%), imports from China (15.8%) and imports from the Mediterranean (14.6%).

In view of this gloomy picture, the chairman of the ICE believes that the future depends on the implementation of specific measures of technological innovation and new designs for the textile and clothing sector, with the support of the Ministry of Industry (Ministerio de Industria). The measures called for by the ICE consist in pre-retirement for a group of workers composed mostly of women in a certain age group. Furthermore, the ICE considers that support should be given to the textile industry in the Mediterranean area to the detriment of imports from Asian countries. Imports from China involve large amounts of products because of logistics and distance, which means that they lack flexibility to adapt to variations in the market and fashion. If the Mediterranean area is supported, imports can be made in smaller batches because of the greater geographic proximity, thus offering more flexibility to adapt to variations in consumer demand.

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