Pending Collapse - the Socio-Economic Situation in Stip 

Hard times for the textile industry in Macedonia 

The centre for Policies’ research and Creation has organized the presentation “Pending Collapse - the Socio-Economic Situation in Stip” , held on 3rd December in Skopje Fair, in the frames of the NGO Fair.

Zidas Daskalovski has expressed the fact that the countries from South-East Asia are constantly improving in the textile production and they are between the leading countries in this industry. He said that in China they use high technology in the textile production. We cannot speak of high technology when we have in mind Stip, moreover, after the application of automatic production a decrease in the number of employees is an expected step. The EU countries have already started preparing strategies, for example: investment in researches, investing in training and public procurement’s policies, customs’ procedures. The entry in STO starting from the 1st January, for Macedonia would mean abolishment of all the customs’ quota regarding the textile. Protective export customs’ tariff would be introduced, regarding the leather, cotton and wool products, while the import textile tariff would be assigned regarding the cost of the product. Macedonia has signed an export agreement with USA and EU.

The presenters mentioned that Macedonia would be in advantage in the future, i.e., the quick supply (since Macedonia is closer to the EU than China); starting from 1st May 2005, everyone would be able to buy textile products and from everywhere. The ones that use cheaper working-hand would have larger opportunity to place their cheap products on the market. In the first seven months of 2004 the gross salary in the textile industry in Macedonia has raised for 7%. Another advantage is that the given service package would be complete, meaning that foreign buyers would ask for a complete product, from designing to packing, from the local factories.

As comparison, in Macedonia in 1988 there were 126 textile factories with 62,518 employed people, of which two factories in Stip. In 2004 there are 329  registered subjects with 6,213 employed people.

As another problem is the lack of educated personnel, textile engineers. Most of the employed are people with finished high-school education and some even with elementary. At the same time, there are no design-schools in Macedonia. In Stip there are 15 textile factories at the moment, 70% of which act based on a previously fixed agreement with the foreign buyers.