Article

 

Textiles in central eastern europe and russia: a comparative analysis in the european context (p.63-88)

by

Doris Hanzl, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)

Peter Havlik, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW)

Keywords : Transition economies, textiles, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe

JEL classification : F13, F21, L67

Abstract

This paper deals with the situation of the textile sector in Russia and Central Eastern Europe, as well as with their EU trade in textiles. It gives a comparative analysis of the main sectoral economic trends, in particular regarding production and employment, factors affecting the competitiveness and the key features of the trade with the EU. The sector plays a relatively important role in economies of most CEECs (especially regarding employment and foreign trade), but is much smaller in Russia. There is also a significantly lower output per employee in Russia: the labour productivity is about 20% below the CEECs’ level. Textile sector exports from the CEECs take a prominent position on the European market, whereas those from Russia are extreme small. While the sector records trade surpluses with the EU in the CEECs, Russia has a large trade deficit in this field. The price and quality of Russian textile exports to the EU are worse than in most other CEECs, and generally worse than average EU imports of this industry. Recently, prices of textile exports from the CEECs have improved, whereas those from Russia deteriorated. The sector is not very much affected by EU’s acquis communautaire, except for parts of the environmental acquis. Russian textile sector does not seem to have a great growth potential; it is also not very interesting for foreign investors.