Textile Exports Projected at $14.7 Bln for 2005

Park Sung-chul, chairman of Korea Federation of Textile Industries (KOFOTI), forecast that the domestic textile industry would post $14.7 billion worth of exports and $7.9 billion in trade balance this year, below the performances made in 2004, due to the end of textile quota for Korea and other factors.
KOFOTI Chairman Park made the prediction in his speech during a New Year's meeting held at the KOFOTI building in Samsung-dong, southern Seoul on Jan. 10. He said the projection, being shy of the 2004 performances - $15.4 billion exports and an estimated 9 billion in trade balance - was made in consideration of such factors as the appreciation of the Korean won and the end of Korean textile quotas to the United States and EU. The end of the textile import quota system for Korea, capable of handling all processes ranging from textile materials to finished products, will provide China with an opportunity to supply not only raw and subsidiary materials but also textile fashion brands, he said. In this regard, Park said, Korea needs to strengthen a competitive edge in non-price areas, including technology, quality, design and brand marketing.
KOFOTI Chairman Park, also chairman of ShinWon, which has advanced to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea, said if South Korean textile companies set up shop in earnest, they will be equipped with both price and non-price competitiveness. He maintained that the government support establishment of an industrial estate in exclusive use for textile companies or apartment-type factory buildings there in order to cash in on South Korean textile companies' advance to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
KOFOTI plans to hold Korea Textile & Fashion Show in Paris, a birthplace of the industry, in September next year, said the KOFOTI chairman, adding that "our competitions are such textile and fashion powerhouses as the United States and EU, not the countries producing cheaper items."
Among about 500 participants of the New Year's meeting were Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-beom and representatives of the textile and fashion industry. In his New Year's message, KOFOTI Chairman Park urged the domestic industry to overcome another crisis facing the local textile and fashion industry, as they did during the Asian financial crisis in 1979, saying the people in the textile and fashion industry should joint forces to develop the industry into one with added values and a competitive edge and explore the overseas markets. Park recalled that last year was remembered as a significant year for the domestic textile and fashion industry as the industry had gone to great pains to expedite restructuring of the industry with the liberalization of textile trade, forecast a decade ago, scheduled to take effect soon.
The KOFOTI chairman said the domestic textile and fashion industry prided itself on gaining ground to some extent in its efforts to go global and raise competitiveness.
Now that the year 2005 not only means the New Year for the people in the textile and fashion industry but also liberalized textile trade, he said, they should greet the New Year with a strong spirit of challenge, saying that changes are mandatory for their survival, not an optional matter.
Park analyzed that Korea has ushered in an era of $200 billion exports, and the feat was the result of strenuous efforts by the people in the textile and fashion industry, which served as a foundation for making Korea's economic strides. The Korean textile and fashion industry underwent such many difficulties as crude oil hikes, raw material price surges, the appreciation of the Korean won, slumped domestic demand, coupled with a worsening of overseas competition and declining profitability. Despite these hardships, the local textile and fashion industry managed to post $15.4 billion last year, up 1 percent over 2003 and record a trade surplus worth over $9 billion.
KOFOTI Chairman Park stressed that the textile industry no longer means just making clothes, but a creative industry grafting technology, culture and image. The textile industry could change into an industry with limitless added values through functions and fashion designs, and the industry becomes a widespread public concern in terms of its contributions to the national economy, including added value creation, foreign currency earnings and employment and exports. nw