ROMANIAN TEXTILES AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY – PRESENT AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

In January 2007 Romania joined the EU. Since then its current import duties for clothing and textiles has dropped a full 10% to between 6% and 8%. Consequently, import and re-export opportunities for Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and other Asian suppliers are expected to increase, according to local Romanian importers. Chinese mainland firms are said to have invested US$254 million in the Romanian economy, but no details are available about the proportion directly invested in the clothing and textile sectors. Romania is now a lesser force in the garment and textile industry than it used to be, where it comes to feeding the EU market - even though the country is still the largest producer of such goods in Central and Eastern Europe, ahead of comparable economies such as Ukraine and Bulgaria. Romania also easily outcompetes more expensive labour in Hungary and Poland, neither of which are now considered contenders for price-sensitive trades, say Romanian analysts.