Despite the adverse conditions, the Swiss textile and clothing industry was able to recover last year. Clothing exports reached a total value of 940 million Swiss francs (917 million euros) in 2021 and were thus 11.4 percent above the level of the previous year, which was characterized by the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, the industry association Swiss Textiles announced on Tuesday. Thanks to the strong growth, the export volume of the pre-crisis year 2019 was slightly exceeded (+0.8 percent).
According to the association, the upturn had a positive effect on the labor market: “Both in the textile and clothing industry and in the textile wholesale trade, the number of unemployed fell by around 35 percent compared to the end of 2020,” says the current annual balance sheet.
There is also hope for a sustained upward trend: the prospects for the industry companies for the coming spring are “solid”, the association explained. “The export prospects have brightened somewhat, expectations about sales prices are stabilizing and those about orders are normalizing,” the organization said. “The economy is gradually leveling off. Many European countries have now also begun to relax the Covid 19 measures.”
The textile and clothing industry manages to recover under “tricky conditions”
The association accordingly drew a positive balance of the year, but also highlighted the numerous challenges that the industry was confronted with: “For the textile and clothing industry, the 2021 financial year was characterized by the recovery from the Covid 19 crisis,” explained Swiss Textiles . “The recovery process took place under tricky conditions.”
Accordingly, on the one hand, the “continued restrictions on travel and event activity” weighed on business. “On the other hand, delivery delays and failures, followed by high transport and raw material prices, put pressure on the margins of textile and clothing companies,” added association president Carl Illi in a statement. “The clearly noticeable cost increases for textile production can be seen worldwide, without exception. In addition to raw materials, chemicals and energy are affected.”
The association relies on export facilitation
In the medium term, Swiss Textiles is relying on more favorable legal framework conditions for exports: “The implementation of the revised pan-Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin (PEM rules of origin) and the reduction of industrial tariffs, which will come into force on January 1, 2024, will be yours in the coming years make an impact,” the association said.
Peter Flückiger, CEO of Swiss Textiles, warned of the “risk that these positive effects will be torpedoed by the currently shattered relationship between Switzerland and the EU”. The industry organization therefore called on “politics and the federal administration to do everything possible to stop the erosion of the bilateral agreements and, even more so, to further open up mutual access”.