MASK PRODUCTION BECAME A CASE STUDY IN 2020

Production is now scarce, but they are here to stay. Exports continue, as masks became another product in the Portuguese textile and clothing industry portfolio, but the agility, speed and efficiency with which the textile sector responded to the health crisis has become yet another case study that highlights the country’s know-how.

The newspaper Expresso agrees, pointing out that “the agile adaptation of the textile sector to the Covid-19 pandemic in order to provide masks to the market in two months, remove workers from furlough, and continue to work while orders from international customers were being cancelled became a case study in 2020”.

“July remains in the history of the textile industry as the best month since 2002, with exports totalling 553 million euros, 4% more when compared to July 2019”, reinforces the newspaper.

The president of ATP estimates that “the bet made on masks weighed 20% to 30% on the sales of many companies in 2020, making a decisive contribution to balance accounts, and avoid furloughs. An effort made by the sector “essential for Europe, and to our country, to help ease restrictions in the summer. There had to be masks for people to go out into the street”, emphasizes Mário Jorge Machado.