Shoe closures damage Lithuania’s light industry sector
The director of Lithuania’s industry association, Valerija Rimkeviciene, said the country’s flagging footwear sector is responsible for the modest trade surplus of LTL0.7 billion ($201 million) in the country’s ‘light industry’ category (textile and leather), for the first ten months of 2002.
In this period, exports amounted to LTL2.8 billion ($804 million) while imports came to LTL2.1 billion ($603 million). Ms. Rimkeviciene said that the trade balance would have been much better but for the recent bankruptcies of many of Lithuania’s shoe manufacturers.
In the shoe sector, exports for the first ten months of 2002 fell by 21%, while imports went up by 12% compared to same period last year.
According to Ms. Rimkeviciene, it is expected that light industry exports will ultimately reach a healthy LTL3.3 billion ($947 million) this year. The light industry constitutes some 17% of the GDP of Lithuania.
