Belarusian textile manufacturers to look for new partners, to increase exports to EU

“The situation is not easy in the industry due to the objective reasons - closed borders, falling purchasing power and other reasons. Yet, the targets set by the country's leadership for 2020 must be met. It is especially important to explore the foreign markets, to increase exports at the first opportunity and fill up the niches that were previously occupied. The Asian presence in the EU markets is declining, so we need to actively look for new partners, and secure our foothold,” she said.

Vitaly Dedinets, the first deputy head of Bellegprom, reported on the performance in the first months of the year. According to him, despite the epidemiological situation, some manufacturers ramped p the industrial production index in January-April year-on-year: Orsha Linen Mill by 3.1%, Kamvol by 9.2%, Slonim SKPF by 0.1%, Mogotex by 7.9%, Vitebsk Factory of Silk Fabrics by 138.9%, Lenta by 1.2% and MedLen by 52.3%.

The average monthly wage totaled Br891.1 in January-March 2020, including Br881.4 in March. In Q1 2020, the nominal wage in the industry went up 16.5% year-on-year, including 22.8% in March.

In January-March, textile factories used Br2.277 million of capital investment, which accounted for 30.4% of the total. Orsha Linen Mill used a total of Br1.737 million of capital investment.

In accordance with Decree No.505, Kamvol is implementing an investment project to launch the production of felt fabrics.

The sector is fulfilling the instruction of the Head of State to work out economically sound proposals on further development of Orsha Linen Mill, including deep processing of short flax fiber to manufacture sanitary and medical products and increase the fiber processing level by 30-40%. In this regard, the enterprise plans the third stage of modernization (2019-2023). “Plans are in place to increase competitiveness of the products of Factory No.1 in 2019-2020. This includes additional purification equipment and the short flax fiber cottonizing line, and also equipment for its bleaching. This will enable the factory to get a new product, bleached cottonized flax fiber, which will be used to produce medical and sanitary products,” the press service said.

Finally, the participants of the meeting discussed the main problems as well as opportunities for intrasectoral cooperation to improve performance of enterprises in the current economic situation.

“The current stressful state of affairs is also a challenge, a motivation to reevaluate our approaches and work more actively with our own and other online platforms, and search for new partners in Belarus and abroad as countries reopen their borders,” Tatiana Lugina noted in the closing speech.

Tatyana Lugina stressed the importance of work with employees, including young professionals, experienced workers of marketing divisions, and staff in general. “In view of the difficult situation in the labor market, we have the opportunity to find good managers and specialists. I would like to remind you to keep people employed and provide all social guarantees. We should support our employees,” she said.