Romania’s textile industry is bearing the brunt of, among others, the rising wage cost and liquidity shortage, representatives of the Romanian Free Trade Unions Federation (FSLR), an affiliate to the National Trade Union Bloc, argue in a letter to Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Economy Minister Radu Oprea, detailing the problems faced by the sector and the measures that are necessary to keep it afloat.

According to the cited source, the current situation of the textile industry is conducive to its immediate demise due to the lack of competitiveness caused by the increasing wage cost, both as a share of overall costs and as an absolute value, as well as compared to the increased competitiveness on the foreign markets of other actors who redirect orders from Romania.

Provided that they are still able to survive in the short term, the companies face a difficult plight in the long term as an effect of the EU regulations on textiles, which will require additional resources they do not have.

The letter also lists a set of proposals for recovery and resilience measures in the textile industry, with short-term measures set to ensure an injection of liquidity in the sector so that it survives the rise in the minimum wage and the general labor cost in total production costs.

Long-term measures should focus on the EU strategy for textiles that lays out the conditions under which the textile manufacturing units will be able to operate.

„We are asking you to consider the proven need for the immediate implementation of measures to save the textiles sector, so that the companies in the field are able to continue their activity, with beneficial effects for the economy as a whole. We are convinced that the failure to urgently take action would seriously affect this traditional sector of the Romanian economy and, implicitly, the state budget; also, this sector can surely become competitive again, provided that appropriate public policies are applied, by accessing European funds and by aid state, so that it is able to generate significant revenues for the state budget in the future, and the irremediable loss of skilled workforce – a situation that clearly cannot be reversed later – is prevented,” reads the document signed by the president of the Romanian Free Trade Unions Federation Florian Marin, and chairman of the Braiconf SA Board of directors, Constantin Stefan.

AGERPRES