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Textiles have registered a positive start to the year, at a time now where dark clouds from China loom over the sector due of Covid-19. In January, textile and clothing exports had risen nearly 3% compared to the homologous period, reaching 456 million euro.
The data published by the INE (National Statistics Institute) and curated by ATP (Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal) show that in January the exports of textile raw material have risen by 1.4%, clothing by 3.1% and home textiles and other manufactured textile goods by 3.3%.
By destinations, those that have registered greater improvements were France (a growth of 5 million euro, i.e. +8.2%), Sweden (2.5 million euro increase, i.e. +21.3%) and Germany (2.3 million euro more, i.e. +5.4%).
And if exports have grown in January, the memo signed by the president of ATP, Mário Jorge Machado, underlines that the numbers also show that the effects of Covid-19 are already being felt in the sector.
“Imports during this month have dropped nearly 6%, to an overall 386 million euro, having affected all kinds of products, from raw material to finished products. Raw materials were the most affected, having plummeted close to 12% (-19 million euro). This is the beginning of the Covid-19 effect”, explains the memo written by ATP, noting that China’s imports have also dropped by 12% (4.5 million euro less).
The commercial balance of textiles and clothing is 70 million euro, with a cover rate of 118%.