In Guatemala, a Korean business group plans to invest in the start-up of a fabric factory in the municipality of Villa Nueva.
The fabrics that will be manufactured in the new industrial plant will be specialized and will supply other factories in the region, informed authorities and businessmen of the sector.
Under the brand of Tiendas Rechido, Corporación Megapaca opened its first store selling second-hand clothing in the city of Morelia, Michoacan.
The new store operating in the Mexican market will make available to the public 50 thousand garments and the business strategy of the business group is to enter the Mexican market as an environmentally sustainable fashion option.
After 20 years of operation, Modas B.I. Apparel, a company specialized in the manufacture of clothing, decided to close its doors due to the economic crisis caused by the outbreak of covid-19.
The company operated an industrial plant that employed 800 workers and was located at Kilometer 8 of the Atlantic Highway, in the jurisdiction of the Department of Guatemala.
Against the backdrop of an imbalance in trade and restrictions decreed in several markets around the world, Central American companies in the garment business are operating and generating export earnings at levels that merely allow them to subsist.
Data from the Office of Textiles and Apparel, of the U.S.
Before the process of reopening the economy, the garment and textile export sector operated with 15 thousand workers, but with the elimination of some restrictions, the activity of the companies increased and now employs 45 thousand people.
For the next few months, it is estimated that in the Guatemalan market, sales of men's pants will decrease by about 5% from the levels reported prior to the change in the business scenario.
Considerable investments in the digitalization of operations, the closure of small stores and the expansion of the commercial area of the best located sales points, is part of the strategy that companies are beginning to implement in the new context of business transformation.
Managers of large corporations agree that several companies were already making progress in digitizing sales and operations, but the pandemic ended up persuading decision makers of the need to focus on online sales, and simultaneously accompany it with a plan to transform physical stores.
The impact that the crisis will have on companies related to the textile, leather and clothing sector in Central America is estimated to be explained, to a greater extent, by the expected drop in sales of carpets and curtains.
Following the spread of the virus globally and the suspension of some production in China, several garment companies in the region have reported increases in their orders.
The spread of the epidemic has stopped much of the economic activity of the Asian giant, which is the largest exporter of textiles in the world.
Between 2010 and 2019 exports of textile companies in Guatemala reported an average annual growth of 2%, a rise that is attributed to demand from companies in the United States.
According to figures from the Bank of Guatemala (Banguat), the manufacture of clothing items was the sector that generated more foreign exchange during the past year, as revenues amounted to $ 1,397 million.
In Guatemala, authorities in the municipality of Mixco threaten to close down textile companies, claiming that some companies are damaging the drainage system by emitting highly contaminated wastewater.
After representatives of the commune of Mixco made inspections in the collector located in Pablo VI Avenue, it was reported that the circulating water was dyed red and they accused the textile companies of being guilty of damaging the drains because of the emission of chemical waste in their wastewater.
In recent years, the sector in Guatemala has lost nearly 30,000 jobs, because the high costs resulting from having one of the highest minimum wages in the region, makes it more profitable only to export raw materials, rather than making them in the country.
Vestex figures show that in recent years several jobs have been lost in the sector, given that between 2006 and 2018 the industry lost a considerable number of jobs, going from 82,109 to 53,636 places, equivalent to a 35% decrease.
In the first nine months of the year, imports of yarns and textile inputs in Central America totaled $349 million, registering a 14% drop over the same period in 2017.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit at CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with graphics]
Because there is still no regulation for part-time employment in Guatemala, textile businessmen estimate that the country loses between 40 and 70 thousand jobs.
For representatives of the Costume and Textile Commission (Vestex), the high operating and labor costs in Guatemala cause businessmen to send cut pieces to Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua to be assembled.
Operating Company dedicated to the manufacture of gluten-free and sugar-free products, OHNE brand. The OHNE brand has 8 product lines: square bread, sweet...
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