US embassy cable - 04QUITO2943

UNCLAS QUITO 002943 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR STATE EB/TPP/ABT EDWARD HEARTNEY AND PASS TO 
COMMERCE/ITA/OTEXA/MARIA D'ANDREA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTEX, ECON, ETRD, EC, Trade 
SUBJECT: TEXTILES AND APPAREL EMPLOYMENT AND PRODUCTION IN 
ECUADOR 
 
REF: STATE 184238 
 
1.  Summary.  Reftel requests information on the textile and 
apparel sectors in Ecuador.  Statistical information, 
particularly with respect to employment information, is 
highly unreliable in Ecuador.  In general, textile production 
increases appear to have outpaced overall industrial 
production growth, with increases in imports and exports in 
the sector, but it still accounts for a small share of 
Ecuador's total trade.  Apparel production has reportedly 
fallen during the 2002-03 period, but the local trade 
association had no specific data on apparel imports and 
exports during that period.  In 2002, the estimated formal 
employment in the manufacturing sector was 121,000 to 
221,000.  According to Ecuador's Textile Trade Association, 
current direct employment in the textile sector is 25,000, 
with an additional 100,000 jobs indirectly supported by the 
textile industry.  End Summary. 
 
Production 
---------- 
 
2.  According to Ecuador's Census Bureau (INEC), total 
industrial production in the country increased from 2002 to 
2003 at an annual rate of 3%, from $10,886 to $11,213 
million.  Ecuador's Textile Industry Association (AITE) 
reports that textile production increased from $248 million 
to $273 million from 2002 to 2003.  However, total apparel 
production fell from $19 to $17 million in 2002-03. 
 
Imports and Exports 
------------------- 
 
3.  INEC reported that textile imports increased by six 
percent from 2002-03 ($229 to $244 million in CIF value). 
Still, textile imports account for a very small share of 
total imports, rising from 3.56% to 3.73% of total imports 
over that same period. 
 
4. According to INEC, textile exports (measured in FOB 
dollars) grew at an annual rate of 13.5% from 2002-03, though 
from a very small base ($66 to $75 million).  Textiles' share 
of total exports actually fell from 1.31% to 1.24% over that 
same period. 
 
5.  Figures for apparel imports and exports are not 
available, but anecdotal evidence indicates that apparel 
imports from Asia have grown significantly in the past 
several years, resulting in a drop in apparel production and 
employment.  It is widely believed that much of the Asian 
apparel enters Ecuador informally, without passing through 
customs or paying duties. 
 
Employment 
---------- 
 
6.   INEC only reports employment numbers for the formal 
sector and suggests that formal employment accounts for only 
55% of total employment in Ecuador.  In 2002, INEC estimated 
the number of persons formally employed in the manufacturing 
sector to be between 121,000 - 221,000.  INEC statistics do 
not break down manufacturing employment by industry sector. 
Also, reportedly, much of the employment in the textile and 
apparel industry is informal employment.  Therefore, 
employment estimates in those sectors are highly unreliable. 
 
7.  According to AITE, current direct employment in the 
textile sector is 25,000.  However, due to the potentially 
large numbers employed informally, the number could be much 
larger.  In the past several years, AITE puts annual textile 
employment growth at 2.8%.  AITE also claims that 100,000 
additional indirectly supported jobs are created by the 
textile sector.  However, there is no data as to where those 
indirectly supported jobs can be found.  Employment figures 
were not available for the apparel industry in Ecuador. 
 
8.  The government collects statistics annually, and the 
industry collects them sporadically, at best.  We do not 
expect that statistics will be collected more frequently or 
that their reliability will improve in the near future. 
KENNEY