Textiles suffering from Venezuelan political row

COLOMBIA: Textiles suffering from Venezuelan political row

By Ivan Castano Freeman | 10 November 2009

Colombia's textiles industry is suffering from the country's poor diplomatic relations with neighbour Venezuela, with trade falling sharply and 50,000 job losses this year.

"We can't hide the fact that many jobs are being lost in the labour-intensive textiles sector while exports fall and factories continue to close," Gillermo Valencia Jaramillo, boss at leading industry lobby Inexmoda, said in a statement.

Valencia said more job losses are expected as exports continue to falter amid the political stalemate.

The row has been triggered by Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez's protest against a recent high-stakes Colombian military cooperation agreement with the US, which has resulted in him freezing trade ties with the country.

Venezuela and Ecuador buy roughly 40% of Colombia's textiles output.

Valencia said the Venezuelan quarrel is dealing the sector a heavy blow at a time when it is already struggling from weaker US exports and a rising peso.

The political impasse is hurting both small and large players.

In recent days, top textiles firm Tejicondor was reported to be seeking 150 layoffs to survive the crisis while many others are mulling redundancies.

Sectors: Apparel, Fibres & fabrics, Sourcing